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CANADA IN 1864. 



1 



CANADA 

IN 1864: 
A HAND-BOOK FOE SETTLERS. 



HENRY T. NEWTON CHESSHYKE, 

LATE E.N., 

AUTHOB Off n BECOLLECilONS OF A FIVE YEABS' BESIDEHCB IN NOBWAY." 



LONDON: 
SAMPSON LOW, SON, AND MABSTON, 

14, LUDGATE HILL. 

1864 
[The right of translation is reserved.'} 



'01 



HA.BKILD, P^Pn, W3DOX 






,11 t , , , , 



A 



*h 






PREFACE. 



The encouragement I have received as to my former 
small work, entitled ' ' Eecollections of a Five Years' 
Eesidence in Norway/' induces me to offer this 
little volume to the public, particularly to those 
whose thoughts are bent on emigration to Canada, 
with the idea that my own six years' experience of 
the country may not be altogether useless to new 
settlers. The truthfulness and accuracy of the in- 
formation contained in the book may, I hope> tend 
to exempt it from harsh and unfriendly criticism as 
to any deficiencies it may exhibit as • a literary 
production. 

London, September, 1864. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Those best suited for Canadian settlers — Modes of conveyance — 
" Ten reasons for emigrating to Canada" — Difficulties of new 
settlers much mitigated in the present day — "Varieties of 
characters and of creeds in the backwoods . ... 1 

CHAPTEE II. 

Arrival in the backwoods — Building a shanty — Necessaries for the 
first year and their cost — Cultivation of the land — Beaver 
Meadow hay — Eates of postage — Postal communication past 
and present 37 

CHAPTEE III. 

Taxes — Duties required of the settler— Volunteers — Naval brigade 
— Ways of making money in the backwoods — Potash — Berry 
picking, etc. — The tea-plants of North America — Other vege- 
table productions — Eeceipts — Cookery . . . .47 

CHAPTEE IV. 

The Eed Indians — Sir E. B. Head upon them — Their character — 

How influenced by association with the white men, and the 

introduction of ardent spirits among them — Their present 

condition — Specimens of their legends . ... 58 

I 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER Y. 

Trapping and other ways of taking animals in the backwoods, with 
hints to trappers, and some information as to the relative 
value of different furs 70 

CHAPTER VI. 

Eish and fisheries — The settler's occupations proper to each month 
in the year — Sleighs and sleighing 87 

CHAPTER VII. 
The minerals of Canada 96 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Country taverns — Backwoods verses — Lumbering and lumber-men 
— The old cook — Mormonism and Mormons — Sects — Camp 
meetings 123 

CHAPTER IX. 

Amusements — Hydrophobia — Variations of temperature — Lakes — 
Animals and fish — Increase of population, of commerce, and 
of general prosperity in the colony — Schools and colleges 135 

Concluding Remaeks 146 

Appendix 153 



CANADA m 1864, 



CHAPTER I. 

Those best suited for Canadian settlers — Modes of conveyance — 
" Ten reasons for emigrating to Canada" — Difficulties of new- 
settlers much, mitigated in the present day — Varieties of 
characters and of creeds in the backwoods. 

What class of intending emigrants is best suited 
for Canada, both with regard to their own advan- 
tage, and the benefit of their adopted country ? It 
may seem almost superfluous to affirm that the 
indolent, and those wanting in physical activity and 
strength, have no business here ; but the energetic 
and the temperate man can always obtain a living 
in this region, and need seldom fail of attaining an 
independence. Of many that do come out, it may 
be said that they are quite unfitted for settlers, and 
only do injury to themselves and those around them. 
I will just instance, by way of example, the case of 
government clerks, accustomed to a sedentary life 
in town. Many of these unwisely throw up their 
situations at home, and transrjort themselves hither 

1 



2 Canada in 1864 : 

with, perhaps, a very exaggerated idea of their own 
importance in the colony, and apparently nnder the 
firm persuasion that a fortune is to be acquired 
without trouble, or that some lucrative colonial post 
will be speedily offered to them. These young men, 
disappointed in the fulfilment of their somewha,t 
unreasonable expectations, are but too apt to de- 
generate into what our Yankee cousins elegantly 
term " loafers/' passing from town to town, wasting 
their time and incurring debts at the taverns, and 
possibly sinking into confirmed whiskey- drinkers, 
thus ruining any prospects they might have had of 
success, and preparing for themselves a miserable 
end. Nor is this, in my opinion, a suitable country 
for the reform of the young prodigal. Such an one, 
banished to the backwoods and isolated from society, 
finds little wherewith to beguile his lonely monoto- 
nous hours, and will most probably fly for solace to 
the fatal whiskey-bottle, always at hand, and staring 
him in the face at every shanty. 

But mechanics and labourers of every descrip- 
tion — indeed all able-bodied industrious men — can 
almost invariably find employment in Canada ;* and 
as fresh tracts in the far- west are gradually opened 
out and cleared for colonization, the more will their 
services be in request. The preconceived notions 
of a new settler regarding these parts are generally 
wide enough of the mark, and experience, as usual, 
* See Appendix B. 



A Hand-booh for Settlers. 3 

must be his practical teacher ; but it is better, at 
all events,, that he should be prepared for the hard- 
ships necessarily incident to the early part of his 
career in the backwoods — hardships, however, which 
may be considerably mitigated by the possession of 
a strong, healthy wife, capable of household work 
and cooking. But whether with or without that 
helpmate and companion, let him steer clear of the 
seductions of whiskey, for here, if anywhere, he will 
ere long find to his cost, that u it biteth like a 
serpent and stingeth like an adder/' By avoiding 
this temptation, and putting his shoulder resolutely 
to the wheel, he will, humanly speaking, be almost 
sure to prosper. 

The settler of a higher grade must bury his 
pride, and must endeavour to reconcile himself to 
hard manual toil, and to many privations which, will 
naturally be more irksome to him than to the 
labourer or the mechanic. Any assumed superiority 
of class or rank would be particularly obnoxious 
here, where, as in all recent and half-formed colo- 
nies, equality must to a great extent prevail at first. 
But such a settler, by adapting himself readily to 
the circumstances and the people among whom he 
has cast his lot, will, I think, prove to himself and 
to others, that in no country in the world is more 
true kindness and hospitality to be found than in 
the far West of Canada. 

Steamers leave Liverpool and Glasgow every 



4 Canada in 1864 : 

week during the season for Quebec, the average 
duration of the voyage out being from ten to twelve 
days. The fare for the steerage passage is £7 ; that 
for the cabin, £15 and £18. The cost is, of course, 
considerably more than by sailing-vessel ; but where 
the means are forthcoming, I think the extra money 
is well spent to ensure so much safer and better a 
mode of conveyance, unless in the case of a large 
party going out together. With the exception of 
some small items, to be enumerated hereafter, I 
should recommend you, as an emigrant, to encumber 
yourself as little as possible with luggage, taking 
with you only a good supply of all sorts of wearing 
apparel, which you would find it much more expen- 
sive to purchase in Canada. If intending to settle 
there, your things will pass free of duty, and an 
ample allowance of warm woollen clothing will be 
most desirable. Be careful to mark such goods as 
you expect to want during the voyage, or you may 
be much inconvenienced by the omission of this 
precaution. 

Whatever your destination may be, do not linger 
•at Quebec longer than is really needful ; and should 
you require any assistance or instructions, apply at 
once at the Government Office, not listening to the 
numerous land-sharks, in the shape of self-inte- 
rested counsellors, who will surround you in their 
anxiety to play the game of " Grab-loo" with you, or 
any other greenhorn, as a newly-arrived English- 



A Hand-bo ok for Settlers. 5 

man is termed in the city. A train is generally 
ready to start with emigrants for the West, and in 
England yon will have been able to procure a ticket 
to convey you to any station on the Grand Trunk 
Kailway, which traverses Canada to the extent of 
upwards of a thousand miles. If you are bound for 
the backwoods or the back country, you will on 
alighting find persons willing to afford you all the 
information in their power. There is commonly 
some conveyance running from the towns to the 
remote villages, but on this head I refer my 
readers to extracts from the Government and other 
pamphlets in the Appendix.* Kailway travelling is 
cheaper here than in England, and there is a very 
good plan of checking every article of luggage, the 
owner being furnished with the corresponding 
number, which, if kept and produced, ensures com- 
pensation for your property in the event of its 
being lost. 

Subjoined is an extract from a Canadian Alma- 
nack for 1864, which may be useful. 

" TEN REASONS EOE EMIGEATING TO CANADA. 

( ' The aim of the man who contemplates changing 
the land of his birth for another, being, generally 
speaking, the improvement of his condition, the 
question where the circumstances may be looked for 
most favourable to the realization of his desire 
* See Appendix A. 



6 , Canada in 1864 : 

claims liis best thought. Such thought he owes 
to himself, to his family if he has one, and to 
those among whom he may decide on taking up 
his abode ; because mistake in his choice may in- 
volve him and those he loves in disappointment and 
distress, and entail weakness on those to whom he 
should bring strength. > 

" In favour of the selection of Canada as his 
future home, the attention of the intending emigrant 
is respectfully invited to the considerations which 
follow. 

"I. Its accessibility. 

C( Compared with other regions open to him, it 
may be reached in a very short time (eleven days 
by steam), at a trifling expense, and with a small 
amount of inconvenience. 

" In sailing vessels, the rates of steerage passage 
vary, according to accommodation, from three 
pounds to four or five pounds sterling. The charge 
between Liverpool, Londonderry, or Glasgow, and 
Toronto, by the Montreal Steamship line, is ^34, 
including provisions ; between Glasgow and Quebec 
or Montreal, 4^29. By the Anchor Line, the charge 
between Glasgow and Quebec is %2b. The Great 
Eastern charges c8"30 between Liverpool and New 
York. Its cabin rates are — 1st cabin, ^95 — ^135; 
2nd cabin, %10 ; 3rd cabin, ^50. By the Montreal 
Line, the cabin passage varies, with accommodation, 
from -§72 — «8f88. The cabin fare between Glasgow 



A Sand-booh for Settlers. 7 

and Quebec, by the Ocean Line, is g?Q8 ; inter- 
mediate^ ^44. By the Anchor Line, ^60 j inter- 
mediate, ^30. Children are carried by them all at 
lower rates, generally half price. 

" Once landed at Quebec or Montreal, the emi- 
grant may pass on to Toronto, or Hamilton, or any 
intermediate locality, by steamboat or railway, and 
thence by railway to the western extremity of the 
province. The Northern Eailway will take him to 
any place he pleases on the route between Toronto 
and Collingwood, Lake Huron, whence he can pass 
on to Owen Sound and intermediate places by 
steamer. The cost of the passage by deck of 
steamer and second-class cars is, from Quebec to 
Toronto, a distance of 500 miles, about %h, with 
corresponding rates for places intermediate; to 
Windsor, the western extremity of the province, 
631 miles from Quebec, &7 12J ; to Barrie; 565 
miles, ^6 50 ; to Collingwood, 593 miles, %1 '. The 
time between Quebec and Toronto is by railway 
about thirty- six hours, by steamboat a day or two 
longer. Toronto may be reached by railway from 
Portland, the ocean terminus of the Grand Trunk, 
in from twenty-five to twenty- six hours. 

" As, moreover, he may return to his old home so 
much more easily, should he for any reason wish to 
do so, he is less irretrievably committed by coming 
here than by going elsewhere. A visit to it is also 
at any time much more practicable, other things 



8 Canada in 1864 : 

being equal. His friends may likewise, if so dis- 
posed, follow him with much less of difficulty — thus 
renewing associations of which necessity had com- 
pelled the temporary interruption. 

"2. The scope afforded by its extent, both for the 
successful employment of his capabilities and tlie 
<j ratification of his tastes in the choice of a home. 

" Leaving out the territory to the north-west, the 
opening of which may be looked for ere long, 
Canada occupies a space stretching in a south- 
westerly direction from the Island of Anticosti in 
the Gulf of St. Lawrence, to the south-western 
extremity of Lake Erie, of about 1400 miles in 
length; with a breadth varying from 200 to 400 
miles. Including water-surface, it is computed 
to contain an area of 349,821 square miles — 242,482 
exclusive of water. The number of acres com- 
prised within it is estimated at 160,405,129 ; 
128,659,684 of which are reckoned to Canada East; 
to Canada West, 31,745,533. 

' ' ' If an area/ it is remarked in a pamphlet 
published in 1860, by authority, 'be traced in 
Europe, corresponding generally to that occupied by 
Canada, in America, and the meridian of the most 
southern part of Canada be supposed to he upon the 
meridian of Greenwich, in England, the south of 
France, at the base of the Pyrenees, will represent 
the south frontier of Canada ; the south-eastern 
boundary of this area will stretch through France,, 



A Hand-booh for Settlers. 9 

Switzerland, Bavaria, and Austria, to a point in the 
south of Poland, and a line drawn northward to 
Warsaw will delineate the mouth of the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence. The north-western boundary of this 
area will extend from the south of France, in a 
northerly direction, towards and beyond Brest ; and 
a line drawn from near Brest to the British Channel, 
thence through England, Belgium, and Germany, 
to Warsaw again, will establish the position of a 
European area, corresponding to Canada in America. 
The inhabited and highly fertile portion of Canada 
is represented in this area by those regions which 
lie in the south, centre, and south-east of France, 
and in those parts of Switzerland, Bavaria, and 
Austria, included within its boundary. The other 
portion, although of vast extent, and not so well 
fitted for extended agricultural operations, is highly 
valuable on account of its timber and minerals. ' 

" 'The province of Canada embraces about 350,000 
square miles of territory, independently of its north- 
western possessions, not yet open for settlement ; it 
is consequently more than one -third larger than 
France, nearly three times as large as Great Britain 
and Ireland, and more than three times as large as 
Prussia. The inhabited or settled portion covers at 
least 40,000 square miles, and is nearly twice as 
large as Denmark, three times as large as Switzer- 
land, a third greater than Scotland, and more than 
a third the size of Prussia -, but such is the rapid 



10 Canada in 1864 : 

progress of settlement through immigration, that in 
ten years time the settled parts of Canada will be 
equal in area to Great Britain or Prussia/ 

"According to the Crown Lands Eeport for 1856, 
the peninsula of Gaspe alone, which is 175 miles in 
length, with an extreme breadth of 90 miles, com- 
prises an area, after the deduction of a small portion 
covered by Now Brunswick of 11,800 superficial 
miles, equal to that of the European peninsula of 
Denmark, which it resembles in form. The Ta- 
dousac territory, valued as yet chiefly for its timber 
trade and its fisheries, is there stated to have a coast 
of 600 miles in length on the Gulf and River 
St. Lawrence, with a breadth of 160 miles and 
an area of probably 65,000 square miles ; more than 
twice that of Scotland. The country drained by 
the Saguenay includes an area of 27,000 square 
miles, an extent equal to the Tyrol and Switzerland 
taken together. The quantity of land in it capable 
of cultivation is estimated at about 3,000,000 acres. 
The area drained by the St. Maurice is about 21,000 
superficial miles; about one-tenth larger than the 
mainland of Scotland, and containing about as 
much arable land. { Admirably watered, and inter- 
sected by magnificent rivers, with forests of pine 
alternating with rich tracts of hardwood land, and 
with that most valuable of all minerals, iron ore, 
in unlimited quantities, the country wants but the 
hand of man and the course of a few years to make 



A Hand-boolc for Settlers, 11 

it equal to the most flourishing parts of Canada/ 
The area of the Ottawa and tracts therewith con- 
nected is estimated at 82,000 miles; one-fourth 
greater than that of the New England States. 

" In the Great Manitoulin Island, which contains 
about 3,000,000 acres, upwards of 200,000 acres are 
expected soon to come into market. On the north 
sides of Lakes Huron and Superior there remains 
to be noticed an area of about 48,000 miles ; one- 
half greater than that of the State of Maine. 

(l Eegions so vast afford certainly ample room and 
verge enough, and will do for some time to come. 
Should they, however, become too strait, we have 
the North West to fall back upon, one-fifth of which, 
the Red River and Saskatchewan country, is com- 
puted to contain a territory exceeding in extent the 
empires of France and Austria united. 

" 3. The physical characteristics of the country, its 
natural resources, and its healthfulness. 

" The variety of its products and abundance of its 
harvests attest, where proper care is bestowed on 
its cultivation, the excellence of its soil. And 
although in the longer settled parts of the country 
the best lands may be supposed to be occupied, and 
therefore attainable only at a considerable advance 
on the original prices, others quite equal to them are 
to be found in the newer regions which every year 
is bringing into the market. According to the 
Crown Land Report for last year, there are now in 



12 Canada in 1864 : 

tlie hands of the Government (surveyed) for disposal 
5,908,557 acres in Lower Canada ; in Upper Canada, 
2,839,358£ ; in all, 8,747,9154, varying in price with 
situation. 

" In Upper Canada, it is 70 cents per acre for 
cash, or one dollar when paid in instalments — one 
at the time of purchase, and the remainder in four 
equal annual payments with interest. In Lower 
Canada, the highest price is 60 cents, but the larger 
quantity is disposable at 30 cents per acre. In the 
Algoma District, Upper Canada, and in those of 
Gaspe and Saguenay in Lower Canada, the price is 
only 20 cents. The condition of settlement is ex- 
acted in all cases. 

" Through these newer lands seven great roads 
have recently been laid out in Upper and five in 
Lower Canada. The Upper Canada roads are — 
1. 'The Ottawa and Opeongo Road/ which runs 
east and west, intended to be 171 miles in length, 
and to connect the Ottawa River with Lake Huron ; 
of this, 62 miles are finished, on which 235 settlers 
are already located. 2. ' The Addington Road/ 
which intersects the Opeongo Road ; on this, which 
is about 61 miles in length, there are 178 settlers. 

3. e The Hastings Road/ running nearly parallel to 
the Addington Road, and connecting the county of 
Hastings with the Ottawa and Opeongo Road, 68 
miles in length, on which there are 306 settlers. 

4. ' The Bobcaygeon Road/ running north from 



A Hand-book for Settlers, 13 

Bobcaygeon, between the counties of Peterborough 
and Victoria, meant to be continued to Nipissing; 
the number of miles completed is 36, the number of 
settlers, 168. 5. f The Frontenac and Madawaska 
Road/ of which the number of miles completed is 
33. 6. ( The Muskoka Road/ which runs from the 
head of the navigation of Lake Couchiching to the 
Grand Falls of Muskoka, where it will intersect what 
is called Peterson's line, which will eventually meet 
the Ottawa and Opeongo Road, now gradually open- 
ing west war dly. By this road, the intending settler 
can reach the centre of the county in one day from 
Toronto, whence he will proceed by Northern Rail- 
way to Lake Simcoe, and thence by steamer — 
21 miles are completed. 7. c The Sault Ste. Marie 
Road/ intended to run from Sault Ste. Marie to 
Gonlais Bay, — four miles of which are completed. 
8. f The Burleigh Road' — 45 miles are finished; there 
are nearly 100 settlers. In two years this line will 
be completed, to the English Company's townships. 
" The five in Lower Canada are — c The Elgin 
Road/ in the county of D'Islet, 38 miles in length, 
from St. Jean Port Joli to the Provincial Line; 
< The Montreal and Cap Chat / c The Tache Road/ 
from Buckland county of Bellechasse, to Kempt 
Road, Rimouski, about 200 miles; f The Temis- 
couata Road/ from River du Loup to Lake Temis- 
couata; and 'The Kempt Road/ from Metis to 
Restigouche. 



14 Canada in 1864 : 

" Along these roads,, free grants, not exceeding 
100 acres in each case, are given by the government 
for the purpose of facilitating settlement, on the 
following conditions. 

" 1. That the settler be eighteen years of age. 

" 2. That he take possession of the land allotted 
to him within one month. 

" 3. That he put into a state of cultivation twelve 
acres of land in the course of four years. 

" 4. That he build a log-house, 20 by 18 feet, and 
reside on the lot until the foregoing conditions are 
fulfilled. 

" f Families may reside on a single lot, and the 
several members having land allotted to them will 
be exempt from building and residence on each in- 
dividual lot. The non-fulfilment of these conditions 
will cause the immediate loss of the land, which will 
be sold or given to another. The lands thus opened 
up, and gratuitously offered by the government for 
settlement, are chiefly of excellent quality, and well 
adapted, in respect of soil and climate, to all the 
purposes of husbandry. 

" ' The reports of the resident agents on these 
roads, for the past year, convey the most favourable 
accounts of the prosperity of the settlers thereon, 
and of the large amount of produce they have raised 
on the newly- cleared lands. ' 

" In the Crown Lands' Eeport for 1862, similar 
accounts are given ; though a late statement excepts 



A Hand-book for Settlers. 15 

certain parts of the Opeongo Road, which, are said to 
be so rocky as to be incapable of cultivation. 

' c In its mines, in its forests, and in its fisheries, 
Canada has stores of untold, of almost inconceivable 
wealth ; which its numerous lakes and rivers supply 
facilities for conveying to market. 

"Of metallic minerals, the following are enu- 
merated in a catalogue contained in ' Canada at the 
Universal Exhibition, in 1855/ to wit, Magnetic 
Iron Ore, Specular Iron Ore, Limonite (Bog Ore), 
Titaniferous Iron, Sulphate of Zinc (Blende), Sul- 
phate of Lead (Galena), Copper, Nickel, Silver, Gold. 
Non-metallic — Teranium, Chromium, Cobalt, Man- 
ganese, Iron Pyrites, Graphite, Dolomite, Carbonate 
of Magnesia, Sulphate of Baryta, Iron Ochres, Stea- 
tite, Lithographic Stone, Agates, Jasper, Labrador 
Felspar, Aventurine, Hyacinthe, Corumdum, Ame- 
thyst, Jet, Quartzose Sandstone, Eetinite and Ba- 
salt, Gypsum, Shell Marl, Phosphate of Lime, 
Millstones, Grindstones, Whetstones, and Tripoli. 
Under the head c Building Materials/ are specified . 
Granites, Sandstone, Calcareous Sandstone, Lime- 
stones, Hydraulic Limestones, Roofing Slates, Flag- 
ging Stones ; Clays suitable for the formation of red 
and white bricks, tiles and coarse pottery ; Moulding 
Sand, Fuller's Earth; and Marbles, white, black, 
red, brown, yellow and black, grey and variegated, 
and green. Of combustibles — Peat, Petroleum and 
Asphaltum, are named. Some of these are confined 



16 



Canada in 1864 



to a single locality, others to a few places, but the 
more useful of them are widely distributed, and their 
quantities very great. 

" Though our fisheries are as yet in their infancy, 
they employ from 1200 to 1500 boats, with nearly 1 00 
vessels. The annual value of their products is, for 
Lower Canada, #942,528; for Upper Canada, 
#380,000 ; total, #1,322,528. 

" Exclusive of furs, the products of the forest 
amounted, in 1860, to #11,012,253. 

" Our climate, notwithstanding the extremes of 
cold and heat to which it is liable — which, however, 
are often greatly exaggerated— is eminently favour- 
able, as the tables of longevity and the habits of the 
people prove, both to life and enjoyment. 

" According to Professor Guy, the proportion of 
deaths to the population is, in 

Austria . 
Denmark 
France . 
Portugal 
Russia in Europ 
Switzerland 
United States 
Lower Canada 
Belgium 

" ' The salubrity of the province/ remarks Mr. 
Hogan, from whom we have taken the above table, 



. 1 


in 


40 


. 1 


in 


45 


. 1 


in 


42 


. 1 


in 


40 


pe 1 


in 


44 


. 1 


in 


40 


. 1 


in 


74 


. 1 


in 


92 


. 1 


in 


43 



England . . 


lin 4G 


Norway & Swe- 




den . . . 


lin 41 


Prussia . . . 


lin 39 


Spain . . . 


lin 40 


Turkey . . . 


lin 50 


Upper Canada 


lin 102 


All Canada 


lin 98 



A Hand-booh for Settlers. 17 

'is sufficiently proved by its cloudless skies, its 
elastic air, and almost entire absence of fogs. The 
lightness of the atmosphere has a most invigorating 
effect upon the spirits. The winter frosts are severe 
and steady, and the summer suns are hot, and bring- 
on vegetation with wonderful rapidity. It is true 
that the spring of Canada differs much from the 
spring of many parts of Europe ; but after her long 
winter the crops start up as if by magic, and reconcile 
her inhabitants to the loss of that which, elsewhere, 
is often the sweetest season of the year. If, how- 
ever, Canada has but a short spring, she can boast 
of an autumn deliciously mild, and often lingering 
on, with its Indian summer and golden sunsets, until 
the month of December. 

" f A Canadian winter, the mention of which some 
years ago, in Europe, conveyed almost a sensation 
of misery, is hailed rather as a season of increased 
enjoyment than of privation and discomfort by the 
people. Instead of alternate rain, snow, sleet, and 
fog, with broken up and impassable roads, the Ca- 
nadian has clear skies, a fine, bracing atmosphere, 
with the rivers and many of the smaller lakes frozen, 
and the inequalities in the rough tracks through the 
woods made smooth by snow, the whole face of the 
country being literally macadamized by nature for a 
people as yet unable to macadamize for themselves/ 

"4. The constituents and character of its population. 

' f As a matter of course, its inhabitants share in the 

2 



18 Canada in 1864 : 

common characteristics of the races whence they 
have sprung — which include the leading peoples of 
Europe,, those especially of the British Islands, and 
France and Germany — and natives of the United 
States. The circumstances in which they are placed 
— the constant demand on them for exertion during 
the earlier period of their residence in the country, 
the self-dependence they are called to exercise, con- 
nected with the measure in which they are thrown 
on one ano therms sympathy, and the hopes amidst 
which they work, have a direct tendency to deve- 
lop not a few of their better qu ah ties. Even the 
variety of their previous modes of thought and 
action, though occasioning perhaps for a time some 
inconvenience, is a gain to them in the end by the 
contributions which it enables them to make seve- 
rally to the common stock of ideas, and the habit 
which it produces of tolerance for unessential diffe- 
rences, consideration for one another's feelings, and 
appreciation of each other's virtues. 

"An incidental advantage of no small value, re- 
sulting from the variety of origin to which allusion 
has been made, is the sympathy which the new 
comer may look for from his countrymen, with the 
measure in which the privilege of association with 
them helps to make him feel himself at home. 
This is a source of comfort specially open to emi- 
grants from Britain, France, and the neighbouring 
States. 



A Rand-booh for Settlers. 19 

" Among the larger portion of our people there 
exists, alongside of the variety of origin alluded to, a 
homogeneousness which greatly facilitates their weld- 
ing into one community, imparting to them, while 
the process is going on, a coincidence of feeling 
which makes living among them easy and pleasant, 
and secures their acting together in all matters of 
special moment. 

' ' The beneficial influence mutually exerted by the 
new comer and the older resident on one another, is 
well brought out in the following passage of Mr. 
Hogan : — 

C{ ' It is a remarkable fact that the farmers of 
Upper Canada have opportunities of improvement, 
and of enlarging and correcting their views, beyond 
what are enjoyed by many of their class even in 
England. And this arises from the circumstance 
of the population being made up of so many varie- 
ties. The same neighbourhood has frequently a 
representative of the best farming skill of Yorkshire, 
of the judicious management and agricultural expe- 
riences of the Lothians, and of the patient industry 
and perseverance of Flanders. In a country so peo- 
pled, the benefits of travel are gained without the 
necessity of going away from home. Other coun- 
tries, in fact, send their people to teach Canadians, 
instead of Canadians having to go to other countries 
to learn. A thousand experiences are brought to 
their doors, instead of their having to visit a thou- 



20 Canada in 1864 : 

sand doors to acquire them. Nor is the advantage 
of this happy admixture of population altogether on 
the side of the Canadian ; for whilst he gleans from 
the old countryman his skill and his science, he 
teaches him, in return, how to rely upon himself in 
emergencies and difficulties inseparable from a new 
country ; how to be a carpenter when a storm blows 
down a door, and there is no carpenter to be had, 
and how to be an undismayed wheelwright when a 
waggon breaks down in the midst of a forest, and 
there is no one either to instruct or assist him. The 
one, in short, imparts to a comparatively rude peo- 
ple the knowledge and skill of an old and civilized 
country; the other teaches skilled labour how to live 
in a new land. The consequence is, the old coun- 
tryman of tact becomes, in all that relates to self- 
reliance and enterprise, a capital Canadian in a few 
years ; whilst the Canadian, in all that pertains to 
skilful industry, becomes an Englishman.'' 

u The operation of the same fact, the mixed cha- 
racter of our population, on the culture of taste is 
shown in continuance of the above, but our space 
compels us to leave it unquoted. The principle may 
be applied more widely than it is by Mr. H. Its 
power is, in fact, co-extensive with our whole think- 
ing and working. 

" 5. Its institutions. 

" Nowhere is a more perfect freedom enjoyed than 
here. Of a state of liberty more complete it would 



A Hand-book for Settlers. 2 1 

indeed be difficult even to form a conception. We 
live under laws of our own making or voluntary 
adoption, administered in courts established by our- 
selves, and by judges of our own appointing. The 
men by whom our general affairs are managed are 
chosen by ourselves and responsible to us for their 
conduct. Our municipal system gives the people 
a power in local matters which is supreme, and 
affords to the more ambitious and intelligent among 
them an opportunity of preparing themselves for 
the performance of higher duties; as well as of 
attracting the notice and securing the respect of the 
community. Of influence or station, there is nothing 
among us to which the poorest may not aspire. 

"The general features of the municipal law of 
Upper Canada, and which, with some modifications, 
suited to the different state of society in Lower 
Canada, may be stated as the system in force 
throughout the province, are — 

" The inhabitants of each county, city, town and 
township, are constituted corporations ; their orga- 
nization proceeding wholly upon the elective prin- 
ciple ; and provision is made for the erection of new 
municipalities, as the circumstances of the country 
require, by their separation from those already ex- 
isting. A complete system is created for regulating 
the elections, and for defining the duties of the 
municipalities and their officers. Their powers may 
be generally stated to embrace everything of a 



22 Canada in 1864 : 

local nature, including the opening and maintenance 
of highways, the erection of school-houses, and the 
support of common and grammar-schools ; the pro- 
vision of accommodation for the administration of 
justice, jails, etc., and the collection of rates for 
their support, as well as for the payment of petty 
jurymen; granting shop and tavern licences ; regu- 
lating and prohibiting the sale of spirituous liquors ; 
providing for the support of the poor ; preventing 
the obstruction of streams ; effecting drainage, both 
in the cities and county ; inspection of weights and 
measures ; enforcing the due observance of the 
Sabbath, and protection of public morals ; esta- 
blishing and regulating ferries, harbours, markets, 
etc.; abating nuisances ; making regulations for and 
taking precautions against fires; establishing gas 
and waterworks ; making police regulations ; levy- 
ing rates upon all real and personal property, in- 
cluding incomes, for all purposes ; and, for certain 
objects, borrowing money ; together with a great 
number of minor matters, essential for the good 
government of a community. 

"In educational advantageswe know of no country 
so young that exceeds us. By few of that class are 
we even equalled. Our common schools, established 
on the best principles and taught by well- qualified 
and honourably-conducted teachers, offer to our 
youth at large the means of qualifying themselves 
for the intelligent and efficient performance of the 



A Hand-hook for Settlers. 23 

duties awaiting them in their present social posi- 
tions, or aiding them, if such "be their wish, to raise 
themselves to such as are higher, either without 
cost or at a charge little more than nominal. For 
the obtaining of a still better culture our Grammar 
Schools, which are rapidly improving in character, 
offer all reasonable facilities ; while our Colleges 
and Universities place professional training and in- 
struction in the higher departments of learning and 
science within the reach of the possessors of mode- 
rate means, or such as, in the absence of these, may 
be disposed to maintain for a time a manly struggle 
for their own advancement. 

" From a valuable table (T.) given in Dr. 
Ryerson's Report for 1861, we extract the fol- 
lowing particulars, illustrative of the educational 
progress of Upper Canada between 1842 and 
1861. 

" The number of common schools was, in 1842, 
1,271; 1847, 2,727; 1852, 2,992; 1857, 3,631; 
1861, 3,910. The pupils attending these numbered 
in 1842, 65,978; 1847, 124,829; 1852, 179,587; 
1857,262,673; 1861,316,287. Of Roman Catholic 
separate schools there are reported, for 1851, in 
which year they first appear in the returns, 16; 
1857, 100 ; 1861, 109. There were in 1845, 2,860 
common school teachers employed ; in 1850, 3,476 ; 
in 1855, 3,565; and in 1861, 4,336. There were 
paid for salaries of teachers of common and separate 



24 Canada inlS6i,: 

schools, erection and repair of school-houses, libra- 
ries and apparatus, in 1850, $410,472; in 1855, 
$899,272; in 1861, $1,191,413. Of the schools 
thus reported there were 252 free in 1850; 1,211 
in 1855; and in 1861, 2,903. 

a In 1842, there are supposed to have been in 
existence 25 county grammar schools. They num- 
bered 32 in 1847; in 1852, 60; in 1857, 72; in 
1861, 86. On these schools there were in attend- 
ance in 1847, 1,000 pupils; in 1852, 2,643 ; in 1857, 
4,073; in 1861, 4,766. The salaries paid the mas- 
ters were, in 1855, the first year in which they are 
given separately, $46,255 ; in 1861, $71,034. 

"In 1842, we have reported, in addition to the 
above, 44 separate schools and academies (a sup- 
posed approximation) ; in 1847, 96 ; in 1852, 181; 
in 1857, 276; in 1861, 337. The number of pupils 
in these institutions was, in 1847, 1,831 ; in 1852, 
5,684; in 1857, 4,073; in 1861, 4,766. 

u We had in operation, in 1847, six colleges, with 
an attendance of 700 students; in 1852, eight, with 
751 students; in 1857, twelve, with 1,335 (approx.); 
1861, thirteen, with 1,373 (approx.) 

" The amounts reported as paid for educational 
purposes in Upper Canada, were, in 1851, $599,980 ; 
in 1856, $1,326,992; in 1861, $1,476,107. 

"The following table, by J. G-. Hodgins, LL.B., 
F.R.G.S., taken from c Eighty Years' Progress/ 
etc. (p. 524), will give an idea of the educational 



A Band-booh for Settlers, 



25 



advance of Lower Canada between 1852 and 
1861. 



Year. 


Educational 
Institutions 
of all kinds. 


Pupils. 


Assessments 
and Fees. 


1853 . 


. 2,352 . . 


108,284 


. . $165,848 


1854 . 


. 2,795 . . 


119,733 


. . 238,032 


1855 


. 2,868 . . 


127,058 


. . 249,136 


1856 


. 2,919 . . 


143,141 


. . 406,764 


1857 . 


. 2,986 . . 


148,798 


. . 424,208 


1858 


. 2,985 . . 


156,872 


. . 459,366 


1859 


. 3,199 . . 


168,148 


' . . 498,436 


I860 


. 3,264 . . 


172,155 


. . 503,859 


1861 


. 3,345 . . 


180,845 


. . 526,219 



cc As to religions privileges, we are also on the 
whole favourably situated. The right of judging 
for ourselves in these matters is universally recog- 
nized; and in the eye of the law we stand on' an 
equality. The common denominations have all a 
place amongst us, so that we may each, if such be 
our desire, have the opportunity of connection, in 
the older portions of the country, at auy rate, with 
those among whom we may have been brought up, 
or who may be preferred by us. Fair allowance 
being made for difference in circumstances, the 
means of instruction will compare favourably as to 
character, in the greater part of these bodies, with 
those enjoyed by them elsewhere. Speaking gene- 
rally, the usual forms of Christian exertion — the 



26 Canada in 1864 : 

Sabbath school, Bible class, Bible, Tract, and Mis- 
sionary Societies, and kindred organizations — are 
found in healthful and vigorous operation among 
them. Notwithstanding their differing views, these 
denominations, moreover, dwell side by side in 
peace, treat each other with the courtesies common 
in other parts of the Christian world, and co-operate 
with one another for common objects, as much at 
lca c :t as is common in the lands whence they have 
come. The institutions for the relief of want and 
distress in its various forms, which usually follow in 
the wake of Christianity, have place and are carry- 
ing on their good work in our midst. 

"6. The union which it offers of the advantages 
characteristic hoth of the older and the newer states 
of society. 

" By selecting as their home the older parts of 
the country, those whose tastes would lead them to 
give the preference to the former may secure them 
in fair measure, provided they bring with them the 
necessary requisites in character, habits, and 
means ; while such as are willing to share the usual 
fortunes of the latter, may calculate on the chances 
open to them in ordinary circumstances. Growth, 
with its attendant advantages, is in these chiefly a 
question of time and patience. At a much earlier 
age, and with much less of struggle than is requisite 
in older countries, the diligent and economical may 
hope to place themselves in a position of independ- 



A Hand-book for Settlers. 27 

ence. As a general thing, the means of comfortable 
support is within the reach of the industrious, on 
conditions much less onerous than in these. 

" 7. Its relations and status. 

" The emigrant to Canada has, in the fact of its 
forming part of the British Empire, the guarantee of 
one of the most powerful nations on the earth for 
his protection against injury from without. In this 
respect, as in every other, the mother country has 
of course a right to expect that we shall make every 
reasonable effort to help ourselves. Should the 
necessity arise, this will be done ; and being done, 
there need be feared on her part no failure. 

c 'Against the risk of any movement from within, 
which would interfere injuriously with him, he has 
equal assurance in the hearty loyalty and affectionate 
attachment of our people to the parent state, which 
would make them contemplate the prospect of sepa- 
ration with dislike, rather than pleasure. 

' c The connection of Canada with Britain gives her 
also a standing which, in addition to its agreeable- 
ness, is fitted to render important aid in her develop- 
ment. It tends to operate thus by the feeling of 
self-respect which it inspires and fosters, by the 
honours which it holds out to the ambitious the 
hope of sharing, and by the examples that are felt to 
be constantly inviting imitation. 

' ' Retaining, as he does, his connection with the 
land of his birth, the native of the British Islands 



28 Canada in 1864 : 

who chooses Canada as liis home, is saved from 
much of the feeling of expatriation which he would 
experience elsewhere. He finds himself but half a 
stranger, if even that. He looks with a pride, of 
which he was perhaps never previously conscious, on 
the old flag, as it floats over him ; exults in his 
country's glories as his own ; and finds a hymn in 
the National Anthem. 

"8. The steadiness and satisfactoriness of its 
growth, 

" A few particulars are all our space will admit in 
illustration of this. 

1 ' The population of United Canada numbered in 
the year 1800, 240,000. It was in 1825, 581,920 - 
by 1851 it had reached 1,842,265. In 1861 it 
amounted to 2,506,755. The advance in Upper 
Canada between 1825 and 1861 has been from 
581,027 to 1,396,091— not much less than 800 per 
cent, in 36 years. 

" In 1831, the number of cultivated acres in the 
whole of Canada, Upper and Lower, was 2,884,345. 
It came up in 1844 to 4,968,408; and in 1851 to 
7,300,837. The returns for Lower Canada, for 
1861, have not yet been published. In Upper 
Canada alone, 6,051,619 are reported for that 
year. 

" Upper Canada had, in 1851, 99,906 occupiers of 
land. They numbered, in 1861, 131,983. It pro- 
duced, in 1851, 12,682,550 bushels of wheat; 



A Hand-booh for Settlers, 29 

11,391,867 of oats; 9,982,186 of potatoes; 3,110,118 
of turnips; of flax or hemp, 59,680 lbs.; 3,669,874 
lbs. of maple sugar. Its produce of these ar- 
ticles was, in 1861 — wheat, 24,260,425 bushels; 
oats, 21,220,874 ; potatoes, 15,325,920 ; turnips, 
18,206,959; flax or hemp, 1,225,934 lbs.; maple 
sugar, 6,370,605 lbs. The value of the live stock in 
Upper Canada was, in 1 861, as much as $53,227,486; 
its agricultural implements, $11,280,347; its farms, 
$295,162,315. A similar progress will, we doubt 
not, be shown in Lower Canada, when its agricul- 
tural statistics for the year in question appear. 

" In 1808, the value of the entire trade of Canada 
was about $8,400,000. The value reached, in 1852 
—exports, $i4,055,973 ; imports, $20,286,493 ; 
total, $34,342,466. In 1861, its imports amounted 
to $36,614,195 ; exports, $43,046,823 ; total, 
$79,661,013. The value of the trade with the 
United States alone was, in the last of these 
years, $35,455,815 ; the imports from that coun- 
try reaching $21,069,388, and the imports to it 
$14,386,427. 

" In 1851, the net revenue yielded by the customs 
was $2,808,831 ; in 1861, $4,411,160. The value 
of books imported was, in 1850, $243,580; in 1861, 
$5,056,943. 

c< On roads, navigation and railroads, the province 
has expended as much as $60,000,000, over and 
above the interest in the latter of parties out of the 



30 Canada in 1864 : 

country. There are in use at this moment between 
1,800 and 1,900 miles of railway; besides 3,422 of 
electric telegraph, belonging to the Montreal Tele- 
graph Company, which had, in 1861, a capital stock 
of #400,000 (to which it had advanced from 
#60,000, in 1847), employed 400 persons (35 in 
1817), and conveyed 300,000 messages; the num- 
ber conveyed in 1847 having been 33,000. 

" Our post offices have multiplied from 3, in 1 766, 
to 69, in 1824; 601, in 1850; and 1,698, in 1860. 
The number of miles of established post roads was, 
in the first of these years, 170 ; in the second, 1992 ; 
in the third, 7,595; and in the last, 14,202. The 
miles travelled were, in 1766, 369; in 1824, 616; 
in 1851, 2,287,000; in 1860, 5,712,000. In 1852, 
3,700,000 letters were transmitted; in 1860, 
9,000,000. The expenditure of the Post Office was, 
in the former of these years, #276,191, and its 
revenue #230,629; in the latter, its expenditure 
was #534,681, and its revenue #658,451. One 
hundred and ten thousand dollars additional is paid 
per annum, by way of subsidy, to railroads; and 
four hundred and sixteen thousand to steamships. 

" From the above it will be seen that our growth 
has been rapid, steady, and general ; not coming by 
fits and starts, or confined in its sphere. 

"9. Its prospects. 

" It cannot fail, without fault on the part of its 
people, to continue growing and to become strong 



A Hand-book for Settlers. 31 

and prosperous and influential ; for it has in itself, 
in its geographical position, and in its relations, all 
the elements of greatness. But such failure is not 
to be anticipated, as self-respect, interest, and duty, 
unite in urging us to make the best of our position. 
The worst part of the struggle is over. To carry us 
to the height of any reasonable ambition, all that is 
necessary is perseverance for a moderate time in 
the self-denial and exertion of the past with the 
careful avoidance of its errors, as far as they may be 
discovered. f 

" The motive to throw in their lot with us, held 
out by such a state of things to those who may be 
contemplating change, is manifest. To witness 
progress is pleasant, how much more to share in it 
and to be made partakers of the advantages it 
yields. 

u 10. The common feeling of such as have made 
trial of the country. 

u Few who have lived in it for any length of time, 
possessing the characteristics and pursuing the course 
necessary to success, would willingly exchange it for 
the lands whence they came. Nothing is more 
common than for those who visit their old homes, 
after a few years* residence therein, to feel impatient 
till they get back. Numbers who have left it with 
the intention of remaining at home, have returned 
to it unable to enjoy themselves there. The freedom 
realized here from the burdensome restraints of older 



32 Canada in 1861/ : 

societies,, and the social consideration which the de- 
serving seldom fail to receive, help to explain the 
above state of feeling. In the fact of its existence, 
the new comer, or the man contemplating coming, 
has fair promise and assurance that he will, in due 
time, feel himself one of us, and at home among us. 

" The classes to which Canada will be found spe- 
cially adapted are — 

" 1. Farmers, and parties accustomed to agricul- 
tural pursuits. 

" These may, if they bring moderate means with 
them, find cleared or uncleared farms, according to 
their taste, in most parts of the country, at prices 
moderate, though of course varying with quality of 
land, value of improvements, and location. Such as 
may be without the advantage of means may gene- 
rally, if prepared to accept of reasonable wages, find 
employment and comfortable homes among our 
farmers. By satisfying themselves for a time with 
these, they gain an acquaintance with the county, 
the modes of working best suited to it, the most de- 
sirable locations, prices of land, etc., which will save 
them much to which they would be in danger other- 
wise of being subjected, and help them to work at 
advantage to themselves. 

"Though not in an equal degree, parties previously 
unaccustomed to agriculture, if disposed to devote 
themselves to it, may secure these advantages by the 
pursuance of the same course. Numbers are found, 



A Hand-booh for Settlers. 33 

all through the country, with good farms, and in 
comfortable circumstances, who had their knowledge 
to acquire after their arrival. If possessed of the 
physical requisites, and the power of adapting them- 
selves to new circumstances, none who make up their 
minds to persevere need despair, though, compared 
with the others, they must labour for a time under 
disadvantage. 

(i 2. Mechanics, those especially of the more com- 
mon descriptions. 

" These may generally find employment in one 
part or another, indeed in almost any part of the 
province, at fair wages, and within a reasonable time. 
If well-behaved, industrious, and economical, they 
may hope to attain ultimately a good position both 
as to comfort and standing. Many of this class are 
to be met with in our cities, and even smaller towns 
and villages, living on their savings while yet com- 
paratively young. Those of trades less common run, 
of course, more risk, though numbers even of these 
succeed in making themselves positions in the cities. 

"3. The possessors of spare means. 

" What they may be able and disposed to invest 
will afford this class much better returns here, with- 
out the adoption of any course involving wrong, 
than at home. They may also, if desirous of making 
themselves useful, obtain (provided they possess the 
necessary requisites) abundant means of doing so in 
harmony with their habits and tastes. 

3 



84 Canada in 1864: 

u The tilings needful to success in Canada, with- 
out which none can hope for it, and with which none 
need despair of it, are — 

1. Fair health, intelligence, and capacity for 
useful action. 

2. Good principles, and correct, honourable 
habits. 

3. Steady and patient perseverance. 

4. A cheerful and hopeful spirit. 

5. The blessing of God." 

From the foregoing "ten reasons" it will be mani- 
fest that Canada is one of the healthiest countries in 
the world. In some of the swampy grounds, near 
rivers that have been dammed up for the purpose 
of rafting down timber, ague has been very pre- 
valent ; but as the surrounding parts are cleared 
and cultivated, the disease vanishes. It may be 
as well to warn those who are coming out with the 
idea of at once obtaining one of the free grants of 
land given by Government, that, as soon as roads 
are opened, these lots are taken up mostly by old 
emigrants, and often as a speculation, with a view 
of reselling them at a profit to the new arrivals. 
The first settlers must of course encounter diffi- 
culties, though by no means to the same extent 
as was the case in former days, when they had to 
cut their own tracks through thick forests, and to 
carry their wheat and other grains on their backs 
for sometimes more than thirty miles. Now the 



A Hand-booh for Settlers. 35 

Government make good roads and bridges over the 
swamps ; and when these are completed, saw-mills, 
grist-mills, and stores quickly spring up. The 
great evil in these new settlements is the number 
of shibeens or whiskey-shanties that are imme- 
diately erected, the liquor being in general of the 
worst quality, and adulterated with all sorts of 
poisonous ingredients. In the backwoods, where 
laws and licences do not as yet prevail, intoxication 
is but too common among the mauvais sujets who 
are sure to be met with. Every shade of character, 
and many varieties of professions, are here repre- 
sented. The broken-down gentleman, the retired 
officer, the young and laborious aspirant to an inde- 
pendence, perhaps denied him at home, the ruined 
spendthrift, the desperate gamester, all may be seen 
in turn. And scarcely less diversified are the forms 
of religious belief — the English Churchman, the 
Romanist, the Presbyterian, the Methodist, the 
Mormon, cum multis aliis, each endeavouring to 
raise for himself a home in the wilderness. 

The Englishman will yearn for the sight of that 
far-away spire among the trees in the old country 
village, and will miss the sweet sound of the bells 
that have so often summoned himself and his 
neighbours to the church of their forefathers. But 
as years roll on, his log-house, however solitary at 
first, will probably become the centre of a thriving 
township, perhaps eventually of a populous city; 



36 Canada in 1864 : 

and temples will be reared where not long ago the 
ancient primeval forests stretched far and wide in 
every direction, obscuring almost his view of the 
very sky. Meanwhile, he will be encompassed by 
the grand old temple of God's own making, the 
pathless, illimitable woods, such woods as in the 
eastern hemisphere suggested to his Teutonic ances- 
tors the idea of their Gothic piles, and invested 
their architecture with its distinctive character of 
vast and noble simplicity. 



A Hand-booh for Settlers. 37 



CHAPTER II. 

Arrival in the backwoods — Building a shanty — Necessaries for the 
first year, and their cost — Cultivation of the land — Beaver 
meadow hay — Rates of postage — Postal communication past 
and present. 

I will now assume that you, the new settler, have 
arrived at your destination in the backwoods and 
taken possession of your allotment of land there. 
Your next step is to select a spot for your shanty, 
which should be erected near a running stream, or 
at all events where water is easily procurable in the 
immediate vicinity. If you have undertaken Go- 
vernment duties, your loghouse should measure 
16 feet by 20 feet ; if not, you can suit your own 
convenience, and unless you have a numerous family, 
14 feet by 18 feet will be large enough. Having 
cleared the ground you must then cut your logs ; 
pine logs are to be preferred if readily attainable, 
being generally straighter and easier to chop than 
others. The troughs for the roof should be either 
of pine or basswood ; the latter is to be recom- 
mended as the lighter of the two, and consequently 
easier to handle and to split. A layer of these 



38 Canada in 1864 : 

troughs is placed on the rafters, and then one in- 
verted over the edges of two. Having completed 
the preliminaries as far as possible, go round to 
your neighbours and ask them to " the Bee/' i.e., 
to raise your shanty. You will find them for the 
most part very ready to respond to your call, and in 
return you arc expected to give them the best you 
can get. Your female neighbours (if you are for- 
tunate enough to possess any) will aid you in your 
hospitable preparations. Unless you are yourself a 
good builder, commit the " bossing"* department 
to a more skilful hand ; and in a few hours your 
shanty will be reared with right good will. Your 
door and a place for your window must of course 
be cut ; the window itself you should procure before 
you go into the woods, and also hinges and nails for 
the door. Should there be no saw mill hard by, 
temporary boards may be made by splitting bass- 
wood with an axe : and if you have no stove, a fire- 
place may be constructed in one corner of flat stones, 
with a chimney formed of pieces of maple built up 
square, the bark being first stripped off, that the 
wood may be less likely to ignite. Or a square hole 
may be cut in the middle of the roof for the 
escape of the smoke, and the fire lighted on the 
floor, which should be raised by heaping clay or 
other earth upon it. For a large party the latter 

* The superintendent or head-man is called " Boss," both in 
Canada and in the States. 



A Hand-booh for Settlers, 39 

contrivance is the more comfortable, as all may 
gather round the blaze, and it does not often smoke. 
Your dwelling should be lined throughout with 
moss, which abounds on the ash and various trees 
in the woods and swamps. Do not build too near 
one of the latter, or you will be constantly pestered 
by mosquitoes, and annoyed by the croaking of frogs. 
It may be as well here to insert a table of neces- 
saries and expenses for a man and his wife for one 
year : — 

Provisions. 
4 barrels of flour at £1 ... £4 
li „ pork . . .200 
30 bushels of potatoes at 2s. . 3 
14 lbs. of tea at 3s. . . .220 
1 barrel of white fish — mackerel 

or herrings . . . . 1 10 
Salt 5 0' 

Seed. 

10 bushels of potatoes at 2s. . 1 

3 „ wheat at 5s. . 15 

10 „ oats at 2s. . .10 

Other Necessaries. 
1 axe . . , . .060 
1 grindstone . . . .076 
1 shovel 2 



Carried forward . £16 7 6 



40 



Canada in 1864 



Brought forward 
2 hoes at 3s. each 


£16 7 
. 6 


6 




1 brush hook . 


. 4 





1 scythe . 
1-inch auger . 

ii- „ . . 

1 hand- saw 


. 5 
. 4 
. 5 

. 7 



6 
6 
6 


2 water-pails . 

1 window sash and glass . 


. 2 
. 5 


6 




1 bake-oven 


. 7 


6 


2 pots 
1 kettle . 


. 10 
. 5 






1 frying-pan 
1 tea-pot 
3 tin dishes 


. 3 
. 2 

. 7 



6 
6 


G spoons 

6 knives and forks . 


. 1 
. 5 






3 pairs of blankets . 


. 3 10 





2 rugs . 

2 pairs of sheets* 

1 smoothing iron 


. 7 
. 6 
. 2 


6 

6 




£24 15 





lpig 

1 cow . 


. 12 
. 4 


6 



Hay . 


. 3 






£32 7 6 

* Sheets are rarely used at present in tlie far backwoods. 



A Hand-booh for Settlers. 41 

For the first year you could manage well enough, 
with an open fireplace ; in the second you would re- 
quire a cooking-stove, which may be purchased with 
all appliances for £5 sterling, sufficient for your 
purpose. Should you own any light carpenter's 
tools, bring them with you into the backwoods, 
where every little article may come into use. Of the 
necessaries enumerated above, the cow may, during 
the. first twelvemonth, be dispensed with, in which 
case the hay for its use will of course not be required. 
As to hay, the backwoodsman can, generally speak- 
ing, collect enough for his cow ; the hay from the 
beaver meadows is very good, particularly the blue 
joint. Salt must be strewn over it as it is stacked, 
and in feeding the cattle or horses, it is advisable 
to administer to them about a tablespoonful of sul- 
phur once a week. Some of the beaver meadows* 
are of great extent, capable of producing many tons 
of hay ; and it should bo one of your first cares to 
discover and select one not already claimed ; and, 
if late in the fall of the year, set fire to it and 
let it burn all over, clearing away the rubbish for 
mowing. Stack all your hay in one heap if possible, 
for much of it is lost in the cold season from the 
lower parts of the small stacks being frozen. Dur- 
ing the summer and autumn your cattle will find 

* Beaver meadows, i.e., originally beaver ponds; they became 
meadows from the beaver dams having been destroyed, and grass 
springing up where there was formerly water. 






42 Canada in 1864 : 

excellent browsing in the woods and at the edges 
of the beaver dams. Sheep must not be left out at 
night in the new settlements, on account of the 
wolves. Cattle will almost weather out the winter 
alone by browsing on the fallen trees, the bass-tops 
especially ; and they will light upon many pickings 
along the roads where lumbering is going on, and 
at the feeding places. 

You will probably find the axe unwieldy at first, 
but you must not be discouraged by the difficulty, 
for you ought during the winter to chop four acres, 
which should be underbrushed before the snow begins 
to fall. This process of underbrushing is best accom- 
plished by means of a brush-hook, a short thick 
scythe made for the purpose. All the lesser trees 
and the small stuff are to be chopped and laid in 
brush heaps; then at the commencement of the. 
winter, chop your high trees, reserving such as you 
require for logs, or for splitting into rails. Your 
land being logged and burnt, sow your spring wheat 
and drag it in, no ploughing being needful the first 
year. If you are unprovided with oxen for logging, 
and your timber is too large to lay yourself with the 
help of only one other man, you must again have 
recourse to ( ' a Bee." 

After a time your drawbacks and troubles will 
gradually decrease; meanwhile one piece of advice 
I would fain impress upon every new settler, and 
that is, to keep on good terms with your neigh- 



A Hand-booh for Settlers. 43 

hours, bearing in mind the words of the old 
song,— 

" Lend a helping hand to others, 
It always bringeth bliss." 

What is more or less the case everywhere, is espe- 
cially brought home to one in the backwoods — that 
man is dependent upon his fellow-man. In all pro- 
bability you will be repeatedly asked for the loan of 
all the things you possess — lend them if possible, 
but always insist on their being returned to you at 
a stated time. In one of my localities, I happened 
to own more useful articles than my neighbours, 
and I was in consequence pestered morning, noon, 
and night by my borrowing friends. I began by 
lending almost unconditionally, but I soon dis- 
covered the necessity of stipulating in the first 
instance that the things borrowed should be restored 
to me at such an hour or on such a day, as it might 
happen ; and by adhering to this rule I was able to 
oblige others without being deprived for an inde- 
finite period of the use of my own property. If any 
one failed to comply with my regulation, I chalked 
his name on the door with that of the article unduly 
detained against it, to signify that I should not lend 
to him again. 

As soon as anything like a settlement springs up 
in the backwoods, a school-house is erected, which 
generally serves also for a place of worship on 
Sundays. As buildings and inhabitants multiply, a 



44 Canada in 1864: 

local postmaster is appointed, who must find security 
for the fulfilment of the duties of his office. The 
following are the rates of postage in Canada : — 

Letters to any part of Canada, Nova 

Scotia, and New Brunswick . 5 cents. 

„ England by Canadian packets . 12 J „ 

„ The United States . . . 10 „ 

„ British Columbia . . . 25 „ 

Letters to England must be directed to go u by 
British Packet M or " by Canadian Steamer." 

Letters can be registered in Canada for 2 cents, 
both the postage and the registration fee must in 
every case be prepaid.* 

A parcel by parcel post is 25 cents within the 
province, and 3 cents additional if registered. 

Handbills, books, etc., 1 cent per ounce. 

Printed circulars containing prices current, 
2 cents each. 

Books to England, 4 ounces, 7 cents ; 8 ounces, 
sixpence sterling ; and for every additional 8 ounces 
sixpence sterling. 

CANADIAN NEWSPAPERS. 

PEE QT7AETEB. 

For a paper published 6 times a week, 40 cents. 
3 „ „ 20 ,, 

13 „ 

6* >> 

* If not, double postage is charged. 



)} 


)} 


2 
1 


>> 


a 


» 


)> 


)) 


a 


3i 


>) 


a 


}> 



A Hand-booh for Settlers. 



45 



Where the postage is not paid in advance, 1 cent 
is charged on delivery. 

Newspapers from England by Canadian packet 
are free ; by United States, 1 cent on delivery. 

Periodicals on agriculture, education, temperance, 
etc., are delivered free of charge. 

Money orders may be sent, as in England, at 
the following rates : — 

10 dollars ... 5 cents. 



20 


)> 


. 10 


;uii 


40 


a 


. 20 


a 


60 


}> 


. 30 


)> 


80 


}> 


. 40 


)} 


100 


a 


. 50 


3) 



No single order can be issued for more than 100 
dollars. 

Orders payable at any money- order office in 
Great Britain and Ireland can be obtained at any 
Canadian money-office. 

Stamps are sold for the different degrees of 
postage. The postage law and the misdemeanours 
connected therewith are the same as in England. 

Is it not strange to contrast the present state of 
postal communication, even in the remote and thinly- 
peopled districts of our colonies, with that which 
prevailed in Great Britain not a hundred years ago ? 
The time that was then consumed in the conveyance 
of a letter or a newspaper from London to Edin- 



46 Canada in 1864 : 

burgli would now suffice to waft it across half the 
Atlantic Ocean. Among the many valuable advan- 
tages that the invention of steam locomotion has 
bestowed upon mankind, we may reckon as one of 
the greatest the easy and rapid transmission of news, 
both public and private, from the mother- country to 
her most distant possessions. And when we look 
at the still more recent marvels of the electric tele- 
graph, which promises ere long to encircle the earth 
as with a zone, we feel that time and space are thus 
comparatively annihilated, and our friends and rela- 
tions in the other hemisphere, or on the further 
side of the equator, are drawn, as it were, almost 
within the reach and compass of our daily life by 
the happy discoveries of those great men whose 
names will ever adorn the 19th century, and render 
it a memorable one in the annals of science. 



A Sand-booh for Settlers. 47 



CHAPTER III. 

Taxes — Duties required of the settler — Volunteers — Naval brigade 
— Ways of making money in the backwoods — Potash — Berry- 
picking, etc. — The tea-plants of North America — Other vege- 
table prduoctions — Receipts — Cookery. 

The taxes in Canada are very light, and a colonist 
may be settled in the backwoods for years before 
the tax-gatherer calls : my farm was 150 acres in 
extent, and my taxes never amounted to £2 per 
annum ; but of course much or all depends on the 
value of the property. Every resident in this 
country is called upon to perform statute labour for 
-not less than two days, of eight hours each, in the 
year, unless he provides a substitute, or pays half- 
a-crown (English money) per diem for exemption. 
The statute labour exacted of the owners of farms 
varies with the size and worth of such farms ; for 
mine above mentioned, five days' attendance fell to 
my share. According to the Canadian laws, every 
man under forty-five years of age is required to 
serve in the case of war or rebellion, and by the 
new Militia regulation to join muster once a year, 
generally on the Queen's birthday. The bachelors 



48 Canada in 1864 : 

from sixteen to forty-five years are first called out, 
and, when they are exhausted, the married men have 
to take their turn. Schools for military instruction 
are about to be established. Any one able to drill a 
company of infantry through all its manoeuvres is 
entitled to a bounty of fifty dollars; and when 
capable of doing as much by a whole regiment, he 
having at the same time acquired a thorough know- 
ledge of battalion drill, may claim another fifty. 

Volunteering and playing at soldiers is all the 
rage just now; every township has either its in- 
fantry, cavalry, or rifle corps; and boys from the 
age of twelve and upwards parade in scarlet jackets, 
while the ladies occupy themselves in working- 
colours for the volunteer regiments. The Govern- 
ment provide them with arms, ammunition, and 
uniform. The New Militia Bill has caused great 
dissatisfaction among the older officers, as it allows 
no one over forty-five to be eligible for a command, 
and some of the veterans have been waging fierce 
war with the pen against the powers that be, for 
having forbidden them to do so against a foreign 
foe with the sword. A settler imbued with a mili- 
tary mania can turn out fully accoutred, and should 
he possess any knowledge of warlike evolutions, 
they may be of service to him. Naval brigades 
have been formed in the principal towns, and I am 
told that the fresh- water sailors make a very re- 
spectable appearance on land. In one instance the 



A Hand-booh for Settlers. 49 

senior officer is a whiskey- distiller, and the lieutenant 
a schoolmaster ; what sort of a figure they would 
cut afloat I could not venture to say. 

To revert to more peaceful operations. The 
backwoodsman has several ways of turning his time 
and resources to account. If he has hard wood- 
land, let him husband his ashes and convert them 
into potash, which yields a profitable return. Any 
quantity of it can be made while the land is being 
cleared. Then, again, there is the sugar-bush, which 
will pay him well in a good season ; indeed, I have 
known many settlers make 600 lbs. of sugar, which 
at bd. per lb. is worth £12 10s., without reckoning 
vinegar enough to supply his wants, to be obtained 
from the molasses. Should he be located in a dis- 
trict rich in berries, his wife and children should 
gather the raspberries, thimbleberries, and huckle- 
berries, which, when dried, will fetch lOtZ. a lb. 
Wherever the woods are burnt, these fruits spring 
up and grow wild in profusion. The thimbleberry 
resembles the English blackberry, but exceeds it in 
size, and much excels it in flavour ; the huckleberry 
abounds also on some of the plains, and forms an 
attraction to pic-nic parties during the warm 
weather. All these fruits compose an excellent 
preserve or jelly, as does the cranberry, of which 
there are two sorts, one growing on a tree. In 
some parts of Canada raspberries are so exceed- 
ingly plentiful, that the inhabitants have steam- 

4 



50 Canada in 1864 : 

machinery for making them into jam ; and a friend 
of mine has informed me that one man residing 
near Sault Ste. Marie clears an annual profit of £600 
by this manufacture. The mandrake also flourishes 
without cultivation, and affords a jelly similar to 
the guava of the West Indies. The fruit of the 
butternut- tree is serviceable for pickling ; it is not 
quite so large as the walnut, but at least as good, 
if not better, for the purpose. The hazel-nut is also 
to be met with, but the kernel is much smaller here 
than in England. Under the hiccory trees you are 
sure to find innumerable nuts, thrown down by the 
black squirrels (which I may remark, en passant, 
are capital eating, either in a curry or a pie) . Wild 
cherries are to be met with almost everywhere 
throughout Upper Canada, supplying the colonist 
with one ingredient for his cherry-brandy or whiskey. 
The mushroom is common in some of the cultivated 
lands, as also the morell, growing chiefly beneath 
the pines. It is good eating when stewed, and 
makes famous ketchup. 

The woods and marshes abound in two species 
of tea-plant, the Labrador and another of the same 
class ; both are imbibed extensively, particularly 
among the Indians, and are said to be wholesome 
and exhilarating. Professor Johnson remarks — 
u Labrador tea is the name given in North America 
to the dried leaves of the Ledum joalustre and the 
Ledum latifolium. The plants grow on the borders 



A Hand-booh for Settlers. 51 

of swamps, and along the heathy shores of mountain 
lakes. The narrow-leaved Ledum palustre, accord- 
ing to Dr. Richardson, gives tea of the better 
quality. Both are very astringent, and possess a 
narcotic, soothing, and exhilarating quality. The 
narcotic quality is so strong, that, in the north of 
Europe (Sweden and Germany), these plants are 
secretly employed by fraudulent brewers to give 
headiness to beer. From the above facts we may 
infer that, besides a variety of tannin to which they 
owe their astringency, they contain -an active nar- 
cotic principle, more powerful, probably, than the 
theine of the tea-leaf, to which their peculiar ex- 
hilarating and stupifying effects are due." Besides 
these we have other North American substitutes for 
the China leaf, distinguished by the names of Appa- 
lachian, Oswego, and Santa Fe Mountain teas. The 
bark of a wood much resembling dogwood is made 
into tea by the Indians, and also the bark of a 
mountain ash, which I have heard much praised by 
them. Sarsaparilla is plentiful in most of the Upper 
Canadian woods : it is reported, however, not to 
be possessed of the qualities of the Honduras 
variety. I add the names, with short descriptions, 
of some other trees and herbs; and also a few 
receipts, which may be useful in the backwoods. 

The common Berberry. — The berries make an 
excellent and wholesome jelly, when preserved with 
their own weight in sugar - } pickled while still green 



52 Canada in 1864 : 

in vinegar, they are a very good substitute for 
capers. The bark is purgative and tonic; a de- 
coction of it is a serviceable gargle for sore throat, 
and the berries, when bruised, form a cooling beve- 
rage in fevers. 

The Prickly Ash. — The bark and capsules of this 
species have a hot acrid taste, and, when taken 
internally, act as a powerful stimulant, beneficial in 
cases of rheumatism, intermittent fevers, and tooth- 
ache. Lawson remarks that from the berries has 
been extracted a medicine possessing the salivating 
properties of mercury, and that a decoction of the 
plant acts as a strong sudorific. 

The Purging Buckthorn. — The juice of the unripe 
berries is of the colour of saffron, and is used for 
staining paper and maps. The juice of the ripe 
berries, evaporated to dryness with alum or lime, is 
the sap-green of painters ; if the berries are gathered 
late in the autumn, their juice is purple. Twenty- 
five or thirty of them will produce a strongly purga- 
tive effect, but they are not much in favour now, 
owing to the violent sickness, griping, and thirst 
occasioned by them. The inner bark affords a beau- 
tiful yellow dye; like the common elder, it is a 
powerful cathartic, and excites vomiting. 

The Flowering Dogwood. — The inner bark of this 
tree is exceedingly bitter, and has proved an excel- 
lent substitute for Peruvian bark. It may also take 
the place of galls in the manufacture of ink ; from 



A Hand-book for Settlers. ho 

the bark of the more fibrous roots the Indians ob- 
tain a scarlet dye. An infusion of the flowers is 
used in intermittent disorders. 

The Sorrel Tree. — The leaves have a pleasant 
acrid taste, and are known to hunters as a means of 
allaying their thirst. A decoction is made from 
them, forming a refreshing beverage in fevers. The 
branches, when combined with salts of iron, yield a 
black dye ; in Tennessee they are employed in colour- 
ing wool. 

The American Rose Bay Tree. — Although not 
growing wild so far north as Upper Canada, it may 
be seen in some pleasure gardens, where, in its early 
stages, it requires protection during the winter. 
The leaves are sudorific and narcotic, and have been 
given successf Lilly in rheumatism. 

The Mountain Laurel. — The American Indians 
make small dishes, spoons, etc., from the bark. A 
decoction of the leaves has been known to be 
swallowed with a view to self-destruction. They 
are applied in a pulverized form, internally for fevers, 
and topically for the relief of cutaneous affections. 
A few drops of the tincture, which were once poured 
on the body of a large and vigorous rattlesnake, 
killed it in a short time. The powder on the leaves 
is taken as snuff in some parts of the country. 

The American Ash. — Shafts, felloes of waggons, 
frames of carriages, spade and hoe handles, etc., are 
made from the wood. The inner part of the bark 



54 Canada in 1864 : 

imparts a very permanent yellow to skins, and is 
used with advantage in dyeing wool. 

The Silvery -leaved Shepherdin. — The fruit makes 
an excellent preserve, and the jelly is thought pre- 
ferable to currant. 

The LobeUa. — It grows wild, and an infusion of 
the leaves acts as an emetic. 

The Maiden-haw Capillaria. — This flourishes 
everywhere ; from it is extracted the excellent Sirop 
de capillaire. 

RECEIPTS. 

For sprains and swellings, — Boil some elder bark, 
and foment the parts affected. (A concoction of this 
bark makes a strong emetic.) 

For had cold. — Steep some small cedar boughs in 
boiling water, and soak the feet in it at a moderately 
warm temperature. 

For those ivho live or ivorlc near marshy, swampy 
grounds. — Take equal parts of wild cherry, slippery 
elm bark, and prickly ash, and pour whisky over. 
Drink a small wine-glassful before going out in the 
morning. 

For exhaustion produced by over-exertion and 
fatigue. — Ginseng. It was formerly gathered in 
quantities by the Indians round Montreal, and much 
was exported to China. Father Jartout, a Jesuit 
missionary there, describes its remarkable effects 
upon himself. His pulse and his appetite were in- 
creased, and his whole frame was invigorated. 



A Hand-book for Settlers. 55 

For colds and diseases of the lungs. — The Iceland 
or reindeer moss boiled down to a jelly. It is very 
nourishing ; and in Norway, in times of scarcity, it 
forms the chief diet of the poorer inhabitants, mashed 
and boiled with the inner bark of the pine tree. 

For cuts and ivounds. — Pure balsam. On the 
stem of the tree you will observe the bark raised 
in the shape of little round heaps, which are full of 
the balsam. Cut away the bark with a sharp knife, 
and insert the point to make the gum exude. Cover 
the injured part therewith, and it will soon heal. 

For ague. — Cayenne pepper and whiskey are much 
used by the Indians in this complaint, and, combined 
with wormwood, they form an excellent remedy. 

For horses, when hide-bound. — Tamarac bark 
pounded and mixed with a bran-mash, is capital. 

Every store in Canada is Ml of quack medicines 
of every variety, professing to cure all the ills that 
flesh is heir to. Certainly " Ayer's Cherry Pectoral 3} 
is much to be recommended for coughs and colds 
the ingredients are bitter almonds and morphia. 
Quack doctors abound, and thrive, I believe, more 
than the regular practitioners ; partly, I fancy, from 
their charges being lower. In this country the 
medical man is rarely sent for until the patient is at 
death's door, and then the former is blamed for not 
making the latter a sound man again. 

Hops grow plentifully in the backwoods, but 
they are seldom employed in making yeast. A 



56 Canada in 1864 : 

bachelor having to manufacture his own bread, will 
find, in the absence of carbonate of soda, that com- 
mon salt will answer his purpose. Mix a little flour 
and salt with some milk, and put it near the fire, 
and at the end of a few hours you will have a capital 
substitute for yeast. If you have no oven, which is, 
of course, the best thing for the purpose, you may 
bake your bread in a frying-pan, placed in an almost 
perpendicular position before the fire, and kept con- 
stantly turning ; or you may bury your dough in a 
heap of warm ashes. With the help of an iron pot, 
Norwegian greed can easily be concocted, and famous 
stuff it is. Put a lump of butter into your saucepan, 
and when melted, add a little flour, rolling it round 
to prevent its becoming burnt ; increase the flour 
gradually until you have a sufficient quantity, adding 
also milk or water, and stirring all constantly with 
a spoon ; wlien it has boiled, or rather simmered, for 
half an hour, you will have provided yourself with a 
capital breakfast or supper. 

The Indians generally roast their meat before 
the fires with forked sticks placed in the ground, 
and a duck eats better cooked in this way than in 
any other that I know of. The bird is suspended 
with its head downwards, the neck being tied up to 
prevent the escape of the gravy. White French 
beans, boiled with a bone of salt pork, make excel- 
lent fare for the backwoodsman, much to be recom- 
mended before encountering a hard day's work. 



A Hand-book for Settlers. 57 

The bean will grow on any land, and fetch a good 
price in the market. Your meat should be boiled or 
stewed slowly, with the pot completely covered, or 
the best part of your food vanishes in thin air. The 
lower class of English are proverbially bad cooks, 
frying or boiling their meat to a cinder, and thus 
wasting much of it. A man intending to emigrate 
to these woods would do well to acquire beforehand 
a little knowledge of the culinary art, which is at a 
wretchedly low ebb here ; he should also have some 
insight into the butchers' trade, in order that he may 
improve upon the custom now usually in vogue when 
animals are slaughtered, Directly an ox or a sheep 
is killed, and while the flesh is still quivering, it is 
cut, or rather hacked, into all conceivable forms, 
quite regardless of rule ; then the joints (if they 
may be so called) are pitched into a cask, which is 
filled up with salt. The sheep's head and trotters 
are thrown away as useless things ; a sample of -the 
waste and profusion you may often witness among 
the inmates of a loghouse. 



58 Canada in 1864 : 



CHAPTER IV. 

The Bed Indians — Sir F. B. Head upon thorn — Their character — 
How influenced by association with the white men, and the 
introduction of ardent spirits among them — Their present 
condition — Specimens of their legends. 

The following- extract from the remarks of Sir 
Francis B. Head, who, as is well known, was Go- 
vernor of Canada during the rebellion of 1837, on 
the Indian race, will, I think, be the best possible 
introduction to the subject of my present chapter : — 
' ' The fate of the red inhabitants of America, the 
real proprietors of its soil is, without any exception, 
the most sinful story recorded in the annals of the 
human race. From what they have suffered from 
our hands, and the cruelty and injustice they have 
endured, the mind, accustomed to its own vices, is 
lost in utter astonishment at finding in the red man's 
heart no sentiment of animosity against us, no feel- 
ing of revenge ; on the contrary, that our appearance 
at the humble portal of his wigwam is to this hour a 
subject of unusual joy. If the white man is lost in 
the forest, his cry of distress will call the most eager 
huntsman from his game ; and among the tribe there 



A Hand-book for Settlers. 59 

is not only pleasure,, but pride, in contending with 
each other who shall be the first to render hhn 
assistance and food. But 'the red men/ lately 
exclaimed a celebrated Maimi cacique, c are melting 
before the sun.-' If we attempt to Christianize the 
Indians, and for that sacred object congregate them 
in villages of substantial loghouses, beautiful as it 
is in theory, it is a fact, to which I add my humble 
testimony, that as soon as the hunting-season com- 
mences, the men perish, or rather rot in numbers 
by consumption ; while, as regards the women, it is 
impossible for any accurate observer to refrain from 
remarking that civilization, in spite of the pure zeal 
of our missionaries, by some accursed process, has 
blanched their infants' faces ; and, under pretence 
of eradicating from the female heart the errors of a 
Pagan creed, it has implanted instead the germs of 
Christian guilt. 

What is the origin of all this ? Why the simple 
virtues of the red aborigines of America should, 
under all circumstances, fade before the vices and 
cruelty of the old world is a problem which no one 
among us is competent to solve. I have merely 
mentioned the fact, because I feel that before the 
subject of the Indians in Upper Canada can be fairly 
considered, it is necessary to refute the idea which 
so generally exists in England about the success 
attending the Christianizing and civilizing of the 
Indian ; whereas I firmly believe every person of 



60 Canada in 1864 : 

sound mind in this country who is disinterested in 
their conversion, and who is acquainted with the 
Indian character, will agree — 

1. That an attempt to make farmers of the 
red men has been, generally speaking, a complete 
failure. 

2. That congregating them for the purpose of 
civilization has implanted many more vices than it 
has eradicated, and, consequently, 

o. That the greatest kindness we can perform 
towards these intelligent, simple-hearted people is 
to remove and fortify them as much as possible from 
all communication with the whites. 

It is impossible to beware of the white man, for 
it seems to bo the instinct of his untutored mind to 
look upon him as his friend ; in short, his simplicity 
is his ruin ; although he can trap and conquer every 
beast of the field, yet he becomes himself the prey 
of his white brother. 

For these reasons I am decidedly of opinion that 
Her Majesty's Government should continue to advise 
the few remaining Indians who are lingering in 
Upper Canada to retire upon the Manitoulin or 
other island in Lake Huron, or elsewhere towards 
the NorthWest." 

The Indian language is pleasing to the ear when 
spoken by a pretty squaw, although some of the 
words and sentences are very long. Take, for ex- 
ample, the Indian for " Those are fine boys ;" u Nah 



A Hand-book for Settlers. 61 

wudj mindiddo woIl ow kweewezains ewaidde dush. J ' 
Fortunately for the emigrant here, it is not neces- 
sary for him to attempt to master this crack-jaw 
tongue, as the Indians in Canada invariably speak 
English. Small-pox and ardent spirits have greatly 
reduced the numbers of the red men in North Ame- 
rica, and some of the tribes are nearly, if not wholly, 
extinct. Schoolcraft says, " Under the French 
Government they were liberally supplied with 
brandy ; under the English with Jamaica rum ; 
under the Americans with whiskey." 

I believe the last to be the worst poison of the 
three, and it is a common saying in this country that 
a certain whiskey is warranted to kill at forty rods. 
During the war which the Americans were waging 
a few years since against the Sioux Indians, a 
Yankee suggested sending them some casks of bad 
whiskey, which would exterminate them at a much 
quicker and cheaper rate than the dragoons who 
cost annually many thousand dollars. Although a 
heavy fine is at all events nominally imposed upon 
persons giving or selling spirituous liquors to the 
Indians, yet this law, like many others here, is fre- 
quently set at defiance, and the Indian men may too 
often be seen maddened with drink ; the squaws are 
no less fond of it, and indulge in it when an oppor- 
tunity offers of doing so unknown to their husbands. 

It is to be feared that little real good to this race, 
in a moral point of view, has yet resulted from the 



62 Canada in 1864 : 

efforts of our Government to ameliorate their condi- 
tion, such as the building of schools and the grant- 
ing of land ; a thoroughly bad Indian has hitherto 
been, and may still be said to be, a rara avis ; but, 
sad as it is to make the acknowledgment, it must 
be admitted that the fine traits of their original 
character are becoming gradually lost through their 
amalgamation with the white men, too many of 
whose vices they appear to have imitated along with 
the propensity to intoxication. Their manners are 
good, and even gentlemanlike ; they have much 
natural intelligence, but are apt to be cunning and 
lazy withal. They lead a humdrum sort of exis- 
tence, some trying agriculture, and some employing 
themselves in fishing, basket-making, and trapping, 
while a few of the cleverest among them act as 
guides during the season to those sporting gentlemen 
who hire Indians to kill ducks, deer, etc., for them, 
and boast, on their return, of the wonders ' ' I have 
done with my gun." 

As neighbours to our settlers, the Indians de- 
serve to be highly spoken of; several farmers who 
resided near their settlements on Rice Lake have 
told me that they should never wish for better. 
They are by nature kind and obliging, particularly 
the squaws. Some of the half-bred girls are pretty 
when quite young ; at thirty, they are generally old 
and haggard, owing, I suppose, to poor living and 
exposure. AH, or nearly all, around me are Wes- 



A Hand-booh for Settlers. 63 

leyan Methodists, and I believe they are very atten- 
tive to their devotions in public. 

I subjoin two of the Indian legends,* and these 
will suffice to convey a general idea of their style, 
which is rather remarkable for its absence of 
variety. 

THE BOY WHO SET A SNAKE EOR THE SUN. 
THE ORIGIN OF THE KUG E BEEN WA EAG, Or DORMOUSE. 

In the far-off time in which the animals reigned 
over the earth, they killed all the human beings 
excepting a girl and her little brother, and these 
two lived in fear and seclusion. The boy was a per- 
fect pigmy, and never grew beyond the stature of an 
infant ; but the sister increased with her years, so 
that the labour of providing food and lodging for 
both devolved wholly on her. She went daily to 
procure wood for her lodge, and took her little helpless 
brother with her, in order to protect him if possible 
from any untoward accident, for he was so tiny that 
a large bird might have flown away with him. She 
made him a bow and arrows, and said to him one 
day, " I will leave you behind here ; you must hide 
yourself, and you will soon see the Gitshee-gitshee 
gaun, ai seeng (snow birds) come and pick the 
worms out of the wood which I have been chopping" 
(for it was winter time) : " shoot one of the birds 
* Adapted from Schoolcraft's " Indians." 



64 Canada in 1864 : 

and bring it home." He obeyed her, and tried his 
utmost to kill one, bnt had to go home unsuccessful. 
His sister told him he must not despair, but renew 
his endeavours the next day, and accordingly she 
left him at the place at which she procured wood, 
and returned without him. Towards nightfall she 
heard his light footstep on the snow, and in he 
came, exultingly, throwing down a dead bird. " My 
sister," said he, " I wish you to skin it and stretch 
the skin, and when I have shot more birds I will 
have a coat made of the skins/' — " But what shall 
we do with the body V she asked, for as yet men 
had not begun to eat animal food, but lived on vege- 
tables only. — " Cut it in two/' replied the boy, 
' c and season our pottage with one half of it at a 
time." She did so ; and the brother, persevering 
in his efforts, managed to kill ten birds, of the skins 
of which his sister manufactured for him a coat. 

" Sister," asked he one day, " are we all alone 
in the world ? is there nobody else living V The 
girl told him that those who had destroyed their 
relations, and whom they had so much reason to 
fear, dwelt in a certain quarter, and that he must by 
no means go in that direction. But her words only 
served to inflame his curiosity, and to excite his 
ambition ; and soon after he took his bow and arrows, 
and sought the very spot against which his sister 
had warned him. After walking a long while with- 
out meeting any one, he laid down quite tired upon 



A Hand-book for Settlers. 65 

a knoll, where the sun had bleached the snow, and 
fell fast asleep. And the sun's rays beat so hot 
upon him, that they singed and contracted his bird- 
skin coat, so that when he awoke and stretched him- 
self, he felt as if he were bound in it. He looked 
down, and seeing the damage done to his garment, 
flew into a passion, upbraided the sun, and vowed 
vengeance against it: "Do you think that you 
are too high V said he. i( Ah ! I shall revenge 
myself." 

On returning home he related to his sister the 
disaster that had befallen him, and lamented bitterly 
the spoiling of his coat. He would not eat ; he lay 
down as one that fasts, and did not rise, nor even 
alter his position for ten days, in spite of all the 
girl's efforts to arouse him. Then he turned round 
and laid for ten days on the other side, after which 
he got up and told his sister to make him a snare, 
for he meant to catch the sun. She said that she 
had nothing of which to make it, but at length she 
recollected a piece of dried deer's sinew, left by her 
father, and from this she quickly manufactured a 
string suitable for a noose. But the moment she 
showed it to her brother, he told her that it would not 
do, but that she must procure something else. She 
again replied that she had not the wherewithal ; but 
at last she bethought herself of her hair, and pull- 
ing some from her head, she converted it into a 
snare. But the boy said pettishly that neither would 

5 



66 Canada in 1864 : 

this answer his purpose, and still lie bade her 
make him a noose. She repeated her former asser- 
tions, and desired him to leave the lodge. When 
she was alone, she again took some of her own hair, 
and plaited it in such a manner as to form a tiny- 
cord. She then called her brother and handed it to 
him. The moment his eye rested on this curious 
braid, he was delighted. " This will do," he ejacu- 
lated, and putting it to his mouth, he pulled it 
through his lips, and as fast as he drew it, it changed 
into a metal cord, which he wound round his body 
and shoulders till he had obtained a great number 
of yards. He then prepared himself, and set out a 
little after midnight, that he might catch the sun 
ere it should ascend into the heavens.* He set his 
snare on a spot at which the burning orb of day 
would strike the land, as it climbed above the earth's 
disc ; and, marvellous to relate ! he caught the sun, 
which, being held fast in the cord, could not rise. 

The animals, -finding that daylight did not ap- 
pear, were in a great commotion. They called a 
council, and one was appointed to cut the cord. 
This was a hazardous enterprise, as the sun's rays 
would burn those who approached them. At last 
the task was undertaken by the dormouse, at that 
time the largest animal in the world ; and when it 
stood erect, it looked like a mountain. When the 
dormouse reached the place where the sun was 
snared, its back began to burn and smoke with the 



A Hand-booh for Settlers. 67 

intensity of the heat, and the upper part of its "body 
was reduced to a heap of ashes. It succeeded, how- 
ever, in cutting the cord with its teeth, and freeing 
the sun, but was itself reduced to a very small size, 
and has remained so ever since. 

WA WA BE ZO WIN, 
OR, THE SWING ON THE LAKE SHORE. 

Once upon a time there was an old hag, who lived 
with her daughter-in-law and an orphan boy whom 
the latter was rearing. When the son came home from 
hunting, it was his custom to bring his wife the lip 
of the moose, the kidney of the bear, or some other 
choice bits of different animals, which she would 
cook crisp, so that when eating them a crackling 
sound would be heard. This kind attention of the 
hunter to his spouse excited the old woman's envy j 
and in order to possess herself of these luxuries, she 
finally resolved to make away with her daughter-in- 
law. To accomplish her purpose, she adopted the 
following stratagem : — 

She asked the young woman to leave her infant 
son in the care of the orphan boy, and to go out and 
swing with her. She undressed herself, and fastened 
a leather strap round her body, and began to swing 
over the precipice. After a short time, she told her 
daughter to take her place ; the latter obeyed, imi- 
tating exactly the example of the elder. When the 
swing was in full motion, so that it cleared the pre- 



68 Canada in 1864 : 

cipice at every sweep,, the old woman slyly cut the 
cords, and the poor creature fell into the lake. The 
hag then disguised herself in her companion's cloth- 
ing, returned home in the dusk of the evening, and 
feigned herself to be her son's lost wife. She found 
and nursed the child. The orphan boy asked her 
" where its mother was." " She is still swinging." 
" I shall go and look for her/' he said. When the 
husband came in at night, he gave the coveted 
morsel to his supposed wife. He missed his mother- 
in-law, but made no remark. She eagerly devoured 
the dainty, and tried to still the child. The man 
looked astonished at her averted countenance, and 
asked why the infant cried so. 

Meanwhile, the orphan had reached the sea- 
shore, and had discovered no traces of the lost 
woman. He returned, and while the old mother 
was without cutting wood, he mentioned his sus- 
picions to her son, and told him all his thoughts. 
The man at once painted his face black, stuck Ins 
spear inverted into the earth, and prayed the Great 
Spirit to send lightning, thunder, and rain, in the 
hope that the body of his wife might rise from the 
water. Then he began to fast, telling the boy to 
take the child to play on the lake side. 

After the young woman had fallen in, she was 
seized by a water-tiger, whose tail twisted round 
her body and drew her to the bottom, where she 
found all things ready for her reception, and became 



A Hand-book for Settlers. 69 

his wife. While the children were sporting along the 
shore, and the elder one was casting pebbles into 
the lake, a gull emerged from its centre, flew to the 
land, and assumed a human form, in which he re- 
cognized the lost mother. She wore a leather belt 
around her loins and another of white metal, which 
was in reality the tail of her spouse the tiger. She 
said, " Come here with the child whenever he cries, 
and I will nurse hira." The father accompanied 
them, and the gull again appeared, assumed her 
former shape, and began to suckle her little one. 
The man struck the chain with his- spear, severed 
the links, and took the trio home with him. When 
they entered the lodge, the old woman looked up 
despairingly, and shook her head. A rustling was 
audible in the lodge, and the next moment she had 
fled forth, and was never heard of more. 



70 Canada in 1864 



CHAPTER Y. 

Trapping and other ways of taking animals in the backwoods, with 
hints to trappers, and some information as to the relative value 
of different furs. 

The process of fitting out for trapping is by no 
means an inexpensive one. Bear traps are seldom 
used, being both costly and unwieldy ; a bear was 
caught quite lately in a steel one, weighing about 
140 lbs.; this lie carried off bodily with the greatest 
ease, and was not captured until he had been fol- 
lowed a distance of five miles. Honey had been 
deposited in different spots in the vicinity of the 
trap, and heads of Indian corn strewn plentifully 
around. There are two sorts of bears in Upper 
Canada — the brown-nosed and the black ; the latter 
being the larger of the two. Many of these animals 
are taken in New Brunswick by means of dead falls 
with weights sufficient to hold the bear, the weight 
required being from 700 to 900 lbs., and honey is 
the best bait. I was told by a Canadian that he had 
placed a gallon of molasses,, mixed with the same 
quantity of whiskey in one of the sugar-making 
troughs, and thereby successfully enticed a bear to 



A Hand-book for Settlers. 71 

drink of the intoxicating draught, which so stupe- 
fied him that he was easily despatched. 

The Canadian bear generally retires to his winter 
quarters in the latter part of November, and emerges 
again in April. Last spring I observed numerous 
tracks as early as the first week in the month, the 
snow being then about eight inches deep.- 

Beavers abound in most of the backwoods of 
Upper Canada, and have been on the increase, as 
until the last few years they were not destroyed. 
For a long time the skins only fetched a mere trifle, 
about sixpence per lb. ; when they were used in the 
manufacture of hats, they were worth from three 
to five dollars a pound; but when silk and other 
materials were introduced in their stead, they fell 
immediately, and at the present day they are sold at 
six shillings a pound. A large beaver in spring will 
weigh perhaps forty-five pounds, and its skin four 
and a quarter. By some persons the flesh of this 
creature is esteemed a delicacy, a taste in which 
I do not concur ; however, the tail makes an unde- 
niable soup, and a capital stew, which is one of the 
favourite dishes at an Indian feast. 

The beaver is an easy animal to trap. On all 
the principal beaver-dams there is one part at which 
he crosses as he passes on his way to and fro to exa- 
mine the other dams, or to collect food ; and you 
should set your trap a little to the side of this track, 
and in the water where it is about five inches deep. 



72 Canada in 1864 : 

Make fast a stone, weighing some fifteen pounds, to 
the trap, and then attach to it a long piece of wood to 
float as a buoy. As soon as the beaver feels himself 
caught, he plunges into deep water, and the weight 
of the trap with the stone sinks and drowns him, 
while the floating buoy points out to the trapper the 
spot at which his prey is to be met with. It fre- 
quently happens that the beaver will break the float 
or buoy in two, which makes it difficult to find the 
trap; again, if the latter is not large enough, the little 
fellow will be caught by the toe, and will burst 
away. On the shores of the lesser dams you may 
often observe a small mound called a scent-hill, 
bearing a near resemblance to an ant-hill ; the male 
deposits thereon some weeds or mud scented with 
castor,* as a token to the female where to meet 
him ; opposite to this, and in the water as before, 
set your trap after the same fashion, and with the 
same precautions indicated above. The beaver- 
houses are often ten feet in height, and more than 
seventy in circumference at the base ; they are con- 
structed of sticks, sand, and mud, interwoven and 
intermingled so closely that it is almost impossible 
to break them apart, unless each piece is pulled out 
separately; the work of destroying one of these 
huts has taken me nearly a whole day. A man in 
my neighbourhood, quite a Baron Munchausen in 

* Castor (castoreum) is contained in the glandulous pouches of 
the male. 



A Hand-booh for Settlers. 73 

his way, told me lie had once killed a great num- 
ber of beavers in the following manner : — He went 
with a good lantern and a club to a beaver dam, 
which he had broken away by day, and close to 
which he held the light as soon as it grew dark; 
when the beavers came to repair the damage, he 
slaughtered twelve in succession by knocking them 
on the head with his club. Many scents are em- 
ployed to attract the beaver ; the castor is, I believe, 
the best, and is often combined with rum. The 
Indians put great faith in this spirit mixed with 
cinnamon, while sassafras is warranted to draw a 
beaver for a mile. These allurements are kept a 
profound secret among trappers, but I suppose there 
is no harm in my divulging them here. The beaver 
skins should be stretched on a round hoop, and 
hung up to dry, the tails being in the first place cut 
off, and preserved for soup. 

The beaver- dams are certainly wonderful pieces 
of mechanism ; some of them are from ten to twelve 
feet in height, and from sixty to a hundred in breadth ; 
they are formed of boughs, logs, and sticks inter- 
woven together, with occasionally a large stone de- 
posited here and there to prevent the stream from 
washing away the upper part, the whole being inter- 
mingled and plastered over with mud and clay. 
When commencing a large dam, the beavers will 
often turn the course of the water, to enable them 
to float the timber down to it. They generally 



74 Canada in 1864 : 

manage to fell a tree on tlie exact spot chosen by 
themselves ; still it will sometimes happen that it 
falls the wrong way and upon a beaver, but this is 
not often the case, as a warning is given when the 
tree is about to descend. The size of some of the 
trees laid low by these animals is astonishing ; I 
measured two white poplars more than three feet in 
diameter. The beaver brings forth from two to five 
young ones at a birth, and is three years in attaining 
maturity. 

The fisher is very difficult to catch, being as 
wary as a fox. The best bait for him is a piece of the 
musk-rat, or of fish. When you have made yourself 
acquainted with his haunt, set your trap, well covered 
with moss or leaves, hanging your bait about a foot 
or eighteen inches above the pan; a spring-pole 
must be fastened to the trap, or the fisher would 
soon gnaw off his leg and escape ; this contrivance 
is soon made by bending a pole over till it nearly 
touches the ground, then cut a notch in the side of 
a small tree, or hammer a peg into the earth, so that 
the end of the pole may bear against it. As soon 
as the fisher is caught he will struggle violently, and 
by his pulls upon the trap the spring-pole will be 
detached from the peg or tree, and your prey then 
hangs aloft in the air. In the season the fur of the 
fisher is worth from four to six dollars. In order to 
get off the skin, make an incision, commencing at 
the tail, and you will be able to turn it inside out ; 



A Hand-booh for Settlers. 75 

it must then be stretched on a thin piece of board 
and dried. 

The otter, again, is not very easy of capture. 
Where he frequents, he is in. the habit of making 
what is called an otter slide, that is, the part of the 
bank where he slides down into the stream. This 
is readily to be distinguished, and exactly below 
where he drops, set your trap with the pan about 
three inches deep in the water. Be careful not to 
approach the spot afterwards, nor to touch anything 
near it, otherwise the otter will scent you, and will 
take good care to remain at a safe .distance. Otters, 
when met with in the snow, are easily killed • from 
the shortness of their legs they are unable to run 
through it, and the progress they make by means of 
short jumps is necessarily tardy; hence they are 
quickly overtaken. The fur of the otter is more 
valuable than that of the fisher, commonly averaging 
from six to seven dollars. Both of these animals 
require for their capture a double spring-trap, and a 
very strong one. 

We now come to the mink, at the present time 
the most valuable fur producer of Canada, in pro- 
portion to its size, with the single exception of the 
black fox ; this last year a good mink skin being 
worth four dollars, and even more. There are 
several Ways of trapping the mink ; that usually re- 
sorted to is a steel trap, the size of an ordinary rat- 
trap, minus the teeth: Construct a small house, 



76 Canada in 1864 : 

oval in shape, and abont a foot in diameter, by 
sticking pieces of wood into the ground at too nar- 
row an interval to allow of the mink getting in 
between them except at the entrance; from this 
entrance build a passage about one foot in length, 
likewise of sticks, and sufficiently wide to admit 
your destined prey ; at the mouth of the oval set 
your trap fastened by a chain, and covered with 
leaves, and at its extremity hang upon a stick, some 
six inches high, a small trout, a piece of fish, a red 
squirrel, or, better than all, a bit of musk-rat. Be 
patient, and the chances are that you will secure the 
mink a little sooner or later, by adopting this con- 
trivance. As in the case of the fisher, spring-poles 
are often used with the steel trap to prevent the mink 
from decamping with the loss of a foot. Another 
method of catching the mink is with the dead fall, 
either by means of the ordinary figure of four, or by 
the even simpler contrivance of placing a piece of 
stick under the upright or support of the fall or cross 
beam ; at the outer end of this stick the bait must 
be placed, and when the mink pulls at it, the stick 
turns round, slips from the upright, and the cross- 
beam falls, on the animal's back. 

I have myself tried, but without success, the 
following Yankee device, which, however, sounds 
ingenious : — Nail some boards perpendicularly round 
the top of an empty flour barrel, deposit your bait 
at the bottom, throwing in some moss, leaves, etc. ; 



A Sand-booh for Settlers. 77 

then place your cask in an oblique position, so finely 
balanced that the additional weight of the mink will 
cause it to stand upright. When once in the cask, 
the height of the perpendicular boards will be too 
great for him to scale, and thus his capture is 
secured. 

The mink must be skinned in the same way as 
the fisher, and the skin stretched as long- as possible ; 
if the inside is black it is not considered prime, and 
will not fetch half price. The fur is in excellent 
condition from October until the end of the winter; 
during the spring, which is the breeding season, it 
is of little value, and it is then illegal to trap the 
animal. The scent obtained from the male is the 
best wherewith to attract his fellows, but oil of 
rhodium and aniseed are also available. A resident 
not far from Toronto rears a number of minks, and 
annually sells their fur to the amount of £100 ; 
these creatures are easy to bring up, and become as 
tame as ferrets ; a wire netting round the place of 
their confinement is a sufficient security against their 
escaping. 

Of martens there are two species inhabiting these 
regions — namely, the pine and the stone marten. 
Their habits somewhat resemble those of the fisher, 
but they are very scarce, and but few have been 
taken in my part of the country. They are trapped 
in the same manner as the mink, but their skins are 
less valuable. 



78 Canada in 1864 : 

Foxes are very numerous ; the cross fox is some- 
times found, and occasionally a silver one. I have 
not heard of any black foxes being caught or killed 
in Canada for some years past, although some are 
said to exist a few miles further west. The skin of 
the common fox is worth about two dollars, that of 
the cross from four to ten, that of the silver about 
thirty, and the black fox skin has been sold for as 
much as eighty or a hundred dollars ; robes made of 
this last being worn by the Imperial family of Russia 
on state occasions. 

There are various modes both of enticing and of 
catching these animals. Some Indians have assured 
me that they could attract one close to them by 
imitating the squeaking of a mouse, and one told me 
that he captured foxes by putting a mouse into a 
tuft of grass with its head visible, an*d placing it on 
the pan of the trap,, which must be covered with 
ashes and chaff; when the fox perceives the bait, he 
makes a spring and is caught by the leg. When 
the snow is on the ground, it is a capital plan to 
take one of Master Reynard's pads, and therewith to 
imprint a number of footmarks round the trap. 
Another device, and a very successful one, as I am 
informed, is to combine honey, assafcetida, and the 
corns from the inside of a horse's leg, and to smear 
the mixture over the trap, concealed as before by 
ashes, with the bait thrown around it ; some, how- 
ever, prefer to tie the bait to the pan. An old trap- 



A Hand-book for Settlers. 79 

per imparted to me another method : — ascertain the 
point at which the fox is wont to cross the neigh- 
bouring stream, and in all probability there will be 
a stepping-stone whereon he puts his foot ; remove 
this stone, and substitute a trap as nearly as possible 
resembling it in its place, and the chances are that 
the next time he passes he will step on it. It has 
been remarked by trappers that the fox dislikes 
wetting his feet. 

There is rather a noted old character, in his way, 
partaking of the poacher, the genuine huntsman, and 
the earth- stopper, who manages, , with the aid of 
half a dozen curs, to kill many foxes, by first running 
them to earth, setting a trap inside, and then 
stopping it up air-tight. The same individual once 
slaughtered a wolf, and carried it about with him to 
every house in the neighbouring town, until he had 
raised a considerable sum ; for the dead body emitted 
such a dreadful effluvium that the people were -glad 
to throw coin to the fellow to get rid of him and the 
carcase together. By this, and other schemes, he 
has managed to acquire some money, for he is now 
independent, and owns a comfortable farm, on which 
he and his faithful wife Bet* (a Bible Christian 
teacher) flourish : the old man, among his friends, 
with his dogs and his horn, seems as happy as a 
prince, especially when he can prevail on any one 

* The faithful wife Bet died in January of this year. 



80 Canada in 1864 : 

to listen to his yarns about poaching, delivered in a 
strong Cornish dialect. 

The musk-rat is caught with less difficulty than 
any of the furry tribe ; out of the season the skin is 
worth little or nothing, but in the prime (the spring) 
it fetches about tenpence or a shilling. These crea- 
tures erect their houses in the fall of the year, at the 
edges of swamps, in beaver-dams, and on the land 
overflowed by rivers. Near their building or feed- 
ing-places may be observed their tokens on logs 
floating just above the surface ; by these, score with 
an axe, or tomahawk a hole wide and deep enough 
to allow your traps (which should be made fast 
above) to be just under the water, and even with 
the log or timber on which the animals sit, and by 
this means you are sure of catching them. Another 
plan is to pull down a part of one of their dwellings, 
and set the trap near the entrance. The rat must 
be skinned, and the skin stretched in the same way 
as the beaver's. The Indians roast and eat the flesh, 
which they declare to be excellent — first taking out 
the small bags of musk which are found in different 
parts of the body, and which produce the best 
scent for enticing the living rats. They inveigle 
many by moonlight by counterfeiting their squeak, 
which is not unlike that of the house rat. The 
houses are made of grass and weeds piled up in the 
shape of an ant-hill, and some of them are very large. 

I think that I have now mentioned most of the 



A Hand-book for Settlers. 81 

far tribe caught in the backwoods, with the excep- 
tions of the wolf and the lynx, and a few others. 
Wolves abound in the unsettled townships; in a 
settled township the Government gives a premium of 
six dollars a head for each beast slain. The brutes 
are very cunning, and the only successful method of 
killing them, with which I am acquainted, is by 
destroying them with strychnine ; small pills of fat, 
each containing three grains of this poison, strewn 
over the carcase of a deer or a horse, are pretty sure 
to prove fatal to them. The skin is worth about 
three dollars. One hears wonderful stories of these 
animals chasing adults, but I have never witnessed 
any such display of courage on their parts, and I 
believe them to be arrant cowards. 

The lynx, or catamount, as it is called here, is 
not very common. It is an enemy to the lambs, and 
will sometimes attack a cow. A neighbour of mine, 
in Norway, on one occasion lost ten head of cattle 
through these beasts tearing the udders of the cows. 
The skin is not of much value ; and as lynxes are 
very scarce, the trapper troubles himself but little 
about them. 

The weasel and the ermine are caught in this 
country. The former is in great repute among Irish 
horse- doctors, who place it in the mangers of horses 
troubled with certain diseases, while some of the 
Irish ladies reckon it as a charm. 

The skunk is one of the most beautiful little 

6 



82 Canada in 1864 : 

animals in Canada ; but woe to Mm who approaches 
too near to one caught in a trap, for the creature 
possesses the property of emitting by the movement 
of Jits tail the most offensive and foetid stench, which 
will remain on the clothes until they have been buried 
in the earth for a long while. Among the Irish, 
skunk oil is supposed to be an antidote to rheu- 
matism. 

The marmot, or ground-hog, an animal that 
lives underground and feeds on clover, is harmless 
and comparatively worthless, although its skin is 
said to furnish good whip-thongs, and its carcase to 
be not bad eating. 

Black squirrels are very numerous ; the fur is 
serviceable for caps, and the flesh is excellent in 
curry. 

The Canadian hare is about the size of the Eng- 
lish rabbit, but has much longer legs, and in appear- 
ance resembles the mountain-hare of Scotland, in 
winter becoming white like the Alpine variety ; it is 
caught by snaring with wire and a spring-pole, or 
by a deadfall made of the bark of the bass-tree 
soaked in salt and water — the brine inducing the 
animal to gnaw the bark. The skins are valueless, 
and so is the flesh, unless disguised in soups or 
stews. 

I have now touched on the different methods of 
trapping the furry tribe, so far as my own experience 
goes. The trap for the beaver and the lynx is one 



A Hand-booh for Settlers. 



83 



size larger than that for the otter and the fisher, and 
costs two dollars if only one is bought : the best 
sort is manufactured by iC Newhouse and Co., Oneida 
Community/' which words are stamped on the pan 
of all their traps. The next size (No. 3) is for the 
otter, fisher, and fox ; and next in order is the mink 
trap, which will stand the purchaser in about five- 
dollars the dozen from the same company. There 
are many imitations of these traps, but they are 
generally useless, as you cannot set them square and 
even, and the springs are constantly breaking in 
severe weather. There is a new invention in 
America, in which the springs are under the pan of" 
the trap, thus occupying less room and exposing a 
smaller surface of iron. The big iron traps for cap- 
turing bears are dangerous and almost useless. The 
wolf trap is also larger in the jaws than that em- 
ployed for the beaver, and more likely to secure its 
prey by catching him high up in the leg. 

A trapper's outfit would be about as follows : — 

dol. cent. 
2 dozen mink traps . . . 10 



1 „ beaver traps . 
i „ otter traps 

Tent 

Canoe .... 
Axe and tomahawk 


. 16 

. 7 
. 8 

. 7 
. 2 










Carried forward . 


. 50 






84 



Canada in 1864 : 



Brought forward 
60 lbs. of pork 
60 „ of flour 
2 „ of tea 
Powder, shot, etc 
A bake oven, pot, and frying pan 



dol. cent. 

50 
2 50 

1 75 

2 
4 
2 

62 25 



If the trapper has but a fair run of sport in the 
two months in the fall of the year, he ought to make, 
even if the skins do not realize the sums previously 
mentioned, one hundred and fifty dollars. I give a 
fair average, and quote from the accounts of two (not 
first-rate) trappers for this last fall : — 

dol. cent. 



Eighteen deer 


. 76 





Six fawns . 


. 12 





Thirty- five beavers 


. 125 





Twenty mink 


. 60 





Three otter . 


. ]9 





Forty musk-rat . 


. 10 







2)302 






151 

The expenses in the second year would be very 
small, as the canoe, tent, etc., would last him a long 
while, or he might dispense with the latter by build- 



A Hand-booh for Settlers. S5 

ing a shanty. The autumn season for trapping and 
deer-hunting commences with the month of Sep- 
tember, and closes about the second week in De- 
cember ; the spring season is from the end of March 
or beginning of April until the first week in May, 
when the lakes all open and the hum of the mos- 
quitoes is heard ; this is followed by the swarming 
of the black flies, and for some three weeks they 
render the woods quite unbearable, filling your nose, 
ears, and mouth, and blackening your face ; it is 
labour in vain to sweep them off, as myriads are at 
hand to take their place, and continue the agreeable 
occupation of sucking your blood. Two or three 
years since these insects were in such numbers that 
many cattle were completely devoured by them, and 
a girl in the next shanty to the one in which I was 
living, returned from drawing water at about a hun- 
dred yards' distance with her face and throat in the 
same condition as if some thousand leeches had been 
applied to those parts. However, the black flies do 
•not always amount to such a pest, though they are 
the greatest with which I am acquainted in Canada ; 
and as fast as the land is cleared they vanish. Dur- 
ing their season, keep your house dark, and you 
will not be troubled with them within doors. The 
mosquitoes, which remain until August or Septem- 
ber, are nearly as bad. 

I have never encountered any venomous snake 
in Upper Canada. I have heard of one rattle-snake 



SO Canada in 1864 : 

being seen, and report speaks of the existence of the 
puff-adder, but at all events it is extremely scarce. 
The garter-snake (harmless) is very common ; and 
some of the rivers and swampy grounds abound in 
the black-snake, a hideous reptile, though also inno- 
cuous; it will sometimes measure six feet in length, 
and the thickness that of a man's wrist. The pigs 
are deadly enemies to the rattle- snake, so much so 
that the latter seems to have altogether disappeared. 
Enough, I natter myself, has now been said of 
trapping to enable the settler to commence opera- 
tions in that line. I have not referred to partridge 
and duck shooting, as being the same all the world 
over. I may, however, mention that the partridge 
here (of the grouse species) flies up and roosts in 
the trees. Of these birds there are two sorts, the 
spruce and the common partridge; and further 
west you will find the quail, the wild turkey, and the 
prairie hen ; the latter is to be seen in immense 
quantities, particularly in the States. 



A Hand-booh f 01* Settlers. 87 



CHAPTER VI. 

Fish and fisheries — The settler's occupations proper to each month 
in the year — Sleighs and sleighing. 

A little information about Canadian fish, and the 
best ways of taking theni, may, perhaps, be service- 
able to the settler. Hooks are much cheaper in 
England than in Canada, therefore I should recom- 
mend him to bring out a good supply of different 
sizes. For the maskanonge (which much resembles 
the pike) large cod -hooks will be found to answer 
best, the trolling-hooks being generally too slight ; 
but he will find the latter of use when two or three 
are soldered together, with a copper or brass eye 
at the end. Some large and small hooks for trout and 
bass, some eel-hooks with a bent eye in the shank, 
some of the smallest size for catching bait ; also a 
few strong lines for mackerel, and a few fine ones 
for fly-fishing, will complete the necessary outfit in 
this department. 

Many of the rivers and lakes are full of maska- 
nonge, some of which weigh over fifty pounds. The 
usual bait for them is a spoon, either of silver, 
copper, or brass, according to the weather, the state 



88 Canada in 1864 : 

of the water, and the season ; on a bright day, they 
generally prefer silver, and on a dark one, copper or 
brass. The boat is pulled at the rate of two miles 
and a half an hour, the line towing astern some 
thirty yards ; the metal spinning round attracts the 
attention of the maskanonge, and numbers are thus 
caught in some waters. Many Yankees come here 
from the States for the sake of the sport in Rice 
Lake, a celebrated resort for fishing, shooting, and 
whiskey-drinking. Most of them despatch the fish 
they have secured to the markets in the States; 
while a few, both sportsmen and gentlemen, give 
away what they catch, and spend their dollars freely. 
The bass, which weighs from two to six pounds, is 
excellent eating, both fresh and salted; there are 
several species, of which the black is the best. It 
will often take the spoon-bait, and in July and 
August will bite freely at worms, clams, or the small 
cray-fish ; with the first a boy took a couple of bar- 
rels full one day in the river Trent. In August and 
September excellent sport with this fish may be had 
with a white or yellow fly (the latter is preferable), 
tied on a hook, and towed slowly behind a boat. 

Many sorts of trout are to be met with; the 
lesser streams and mill-dams, where there is good 
water, generally abound in the small speckled 
species, which are delicious eating ; they have occa- 
sionally been caught weighing one pound and up- 
wards. In the streams that run into the large 



A Hand-booh for Settlers. 89 

lakes, the salmon, salmon-trout, the lamprey, and 
the eel are plentiful. During the spawning season, 
many salmon are destroyed by spearing at night ; 
and although this practice is against the law, no 
notice is ever taken of these nocturnal poachers. 
Some of the settlers near the Trent gain a livelihood 
by the sale of eels, so abundant are they in this as 
in the other large rivers. They are taken with 
night-lines, and average about 4 lbs. White fish, 
sturgeon, pickerel, and herring are captured in mul- 
titudes in Lake Ontario with gill and stake-nets, 
and near the shore with seines ;. while long lines 
are also used for salmon trout. Some of the farmers 
subsist chiefly by catching the white fish. A friend 
of mine in this neighbourhood often cures two hun- 
dred barrels during the season, each barrel being 
worth about seven dollars. The fresh- water her- 
rings exceed their salt-water brethren in size, but 
do not equal them in flavour when cured. 

There are very extensive fisheries of cod, ling, 
and mackerel, on the coasts of Labrador and Gaspe, 
which also swarm with shell-fish. I may remark, in 
passing, that the land in the Gaspe settlement is 
sold at a low rate, but I would not advise any emi- 
grants to select that coast, for the soil is poor, and 
the winters are very long and severe, as some unfor- 
tunate Norwegians found to their cost three years 
ago, being nearly starved out. There are very good 
salmon rivers along the coast of the Bay of Chaleurs, 



90 Canada in 1864 : 

and also in the island of Anticosti, where a sports- 
man, who did not mind solitude and " roughing it" 
for a while, might vary his diversion by shooting 
hears, the only human inhabitants being the inmates 
of the lighthouse. But more of this anon. 

I now propose to give a slight sketch of the 
occupations proper to each month in Upper Canada, 
thinking it may not be unacceptable to the newly- 
arrived settler. 

January. — This is the coldest month in the year 
in these latitudes, the ground being covered with 
snow, and generally affording good sleighing. 
Lumbering will be going on at the shanties. You 
can also employ yourself in chopping for clearing 
land, and drawing fire-wood ; thrashing your corn, 
and taking it to market. Also, while the snow is 
deep is the time to break in your colts, should you 
possess any; and if you are located near fishing- 
grounds, you can angle with worms, or spear fish 
through the ice. 

February. — The same as in January, with the 
addition of splitting rails for fences, and preparing 
for sugar-making by getting troughs ready for con- 
taining the sap, and the boiling-pots carried on to 
the ground. Also spills for the sap may be 
made. 

March. — Lumbering still. Most of the timber 
will now be drawn on the lakes ready for rafting as 
soon as the ice breaks up. During this month 



A Hand-booh for Settlers. 91 

there is some little appearance of spring, the trees 
beginning to show signs of budding. After the 
first thaw, commence your sugar-making ; a sunny 
day and a frosty night will cause the sap to run. 
The spring season for trapping is from the end of 
this month, or the beginning of the next, until the 
first week in May. 

April. — The frost begins to leave the ground, and 
the snow has nearly disappeared, except in the 
woods. You can generally plough in the middle of 
the month, and you should get your hotbeds in 
order for sowing quite early in May. 

May. — This is a beautiful time here ; the leaves 
are all out, the flowers are coming into blossom, and 
towards the latter end of the month the weather is 
generally very warm, the backwoods swarming with 
black flies and mosquitoes. The farmer must be 
busy sowing his grain; while the fisherman can 
amuse himself, by no means unprofitably, with fly- 
fishing or trolling for bass and maskanonge. 

June. — Sheep-shearing usually takes place after 
the middle of the month ; turnips should be sown, 
and tomatoes and capsicums planted out, in the 
beginning, unless you have already done that work 
in May. Cucumbers will be ripe in the hotbeds. 
Haymaking begins. 

July. — Continue getting in your hay ; the wheat 
harvest commences about the last week in this 
month. The young ducks are ready for the sports- 



92 Canada in 1864 : 

man ; and most of the finny tribe, both in lakes and 
rivers, will bite freely. 

August. — The wheat harvest is generally over 
before the end of the month, and the other cereals 
are ready for in-gathering, with the exception of 
Indian corn and buckwheat. Deer are in good con- 
dition, and fish take bait eagerly. The early apples 
are ripe. This is our hottest month. 

September. — The best month for sowing fall 
wheat, harvest peas, and oats, and for fall ploughing ; 
also for duck-shooting. Deer are in prime condition. 
Autumn trapping commences. 

October. — Indian corn to be harvested ; potatoes 
and turnips to be taken up towards the end of the 
month ; the plough is at work throughout the whole 
of it. Asparagus beds to be covered. Onions to 
be pulled, and grapes to be gathered ; also apples, 
pears, and other fruit. Venison in season. Trapping 
continues. 

November. — This is a cold and windy time ; the 
leaves are beginning to fall, and the general aspect 
of nature to assume a desolate appearance. You 
may commonly plough to the close of the month. 
Potatoes and turnips should be potted or housed. 
There is little rod-fishing, but plenty of trapping. 

December. — The winter has fairly set in, though 
it often happens that there is no deep fall of snow 
before Christmas, and the weather will sometimes be 
open and mild. Now kill your pigs, and salt down 






A Hand-boolc for Settlers. 93 

your pork for home consumption or sale. Pork sells 
commonly at about five dollars the hundred pounds. 
Drawing wood and threshing out grain are the prin- 
cipal employments of this month. Trapping ends 
with the second week. 

Sleighing in Upper Canada lasts about two 
months, from the latter part of December until the 
end of February, on the roads bordering on Lake 
Ontario, which are not unfrequently bare of snow ; 
but this mode of transit is of much longer continu- 
ance in the woods. The introduction of the snow- 
plough, used in Norway, and, I believe, in Lower 
Canada, might be effected here with little trouble, 
and less expense; it would greatly improve the 
sleighing, and also protract its duration. This 
plough covers about ten feet of ground, and makes 
a clear, smooth surface, hardening the snow, and 
tending to prevent its drifting, as it blows over the 
track thus prepared, and leaves a space sufficient for 
the passage of the sleigh, and sufficient likewise to 
admit of two sleighs passing each other; whereas, 
in Upper Canada, if your vehicle encounters another, 
one is obliged to plunge into the deep snow, which 
is not only unpleasant but apt to be dangerous. One 
team can, without difficulty, manage ten or twelve 
miles a day, and the cost of the plough itself would 
not be more than ten shillings. Indeed, its utility is 
so obvious that it is extraordinary the Government 



94 Canada in 1864 : 

should not have caused its adoption. It is illegal 
here, as elsewhere, to drive without bells, a set of 
which can be purchased at the stores for 7s. 6d. In 
the Lower Province I believe the sleighing is usually 
iC in season" from November to March. The ex- 
pense of a good cutter, L c, a pleasure sleigh, is 
about thirty dollars, and that of a double or, lumber 
sleigh is a little more. In the backwoods the jumper, 
built by the backwoodsman himself, is in common 
use ; the runners are made of ash or of iron wood, 
instead of being shod with steel. For lumbering 
and drawing timber there are the bobsleighs, which 
consist of two short sleighs hooked to one another, 
so that they can turn easily in a limited space. 
There is another sort of these indispensable con- 
trivances in the States, somewhat after the style of a 
rocking-horse, the driver sitting astride as if on 
horseback. 

There are few out-door amusements while the 
snow lasts ; but I may except that of going down 
hill at a flying pace, seated on the Tabaugen (from 
the Indian " Tabernac"), a flat board turned up at 
the end. These Tabaugens are also very serviceable 
during the winter for carrying loads on the snow, 
enabling you to convey double the weight you could 
bear on your back, and with greater ease to yourself. 
I introduced the long Norwegian snow-shoe here, 
and it has afforded some amusement to the young 
people ; but it is of little real use in these regions, 



A Hand-book for Settlers. 95 

where there are no smooth fields or prairies to tra- 
verse, as in Norway, and where a rapid descent 
down a declivity is somewhat perilous, as you may 
chance to knock against a huge pine stump. In the 
towns the inhabitants have their skating rinks, cur- 
ling matches, etc. ; but in the country we have little 
or no diversion at any season ; nothing but incessant 
hard work to gather in the dollar, and ' ' go ahead." 
To the more thoughtful and cultivated minds, how- 
ever, the magnificent aspect of nature, in her alter- 
nate mantle of the softest green and the purest 
white, is a never-failing source of pleasure. 



96 Canada in 1864 : 



CHAPTER VII. 



THE MINERALS OF CANADA. 



By the kind permission of the members of the Geo- 
logical Survey, I am enabled to give the following 
catalogue of the minerals found in Canada : — 

METALS AND THEIR OEES. 

IE0N. 

Bog Iron Ore or Limonite. — Deposits of this ore, 
in greater or less abundance, are spread out in 
patches on the north side of the St. Lawrence, and 
between it and the foot of the Laurentide Hills, all 
the way from Ste. Anne des Plaines to Portneuf, a 
distance exceeding a hundred miles. In this area 
the ore seems to be most concentrated in the neigh- 
bourhood of the St. Maurice and Batiscan rivers; 
and iron has been smelted in the neighbourhood of 
Three Bivers for upwards of a century. The St. 
Maurice forges were established in 173 7., and con- 
tinued in operation until 1858. In 1831 from 250 to 
300 persons were employed at the establishment ; 
but the ore and wood becoming exhausted, and the 
Badnor forges having been erected in the Seigniory 






A Hand-booh for Settlers. 97 

of Cap de la Madelaine, on the Riviere au Lard, a 
tributary of the Ckamplain River, in a vicinity where 
the ore and wood are still abundant, the St. Maurice 
forges went out of blast. The ore with which the 
Radnor furnaces are supplied occurs close to the 
surface, in a multitude of patches distributed over 
the country, with a thickness of from three to twenty- 
four inches. It is brought to the furnaces partly by 
the workmen of the company, and partly by the 
various farmers on whose lands the ore occurs. The 
chief manufacture of the company consists of cast- 
iron car- wheels, the price of which at the forges is 2g- 
cents per lb. A rolling mill has been erected at 
this establishment for the rolling of malleable iron 
of superior quality, such as scythe iron, the price of 
which is 3|- cents per lb., and nail-rod iron, the 
selling price being &2 cents per lb. 

The quartzose sandstone, used for furnace hearths, 
belongs to the Potsdam formation, part of the lowest 
group of the Lower Silurian series of rocks. Blocks 
of from twelve to fourteen inches thick, four feet 
long, and twenty inches wide, do not require renewal 
offcener than once in two years. The ore is washed 
at the smelting works, to free it from soil, and it 
then contains between 40 and 50 per cent, of iron. 
The quantity used annually is between 4000 and 
5000 tons. The bog iron ore is found also in the 
Seigniory of Yandreuil and at St. Yallier, but it has 
never been worked. 

7 



98 Canada in 1864: 

The specimens contain abont 50 per cent, of iron. 

Bed Hematite or Oligist Ore. — This is found in 
MacNab. There is an nnworked bed of 30 feet 
thick, containing, by analysis, about 58 per cent, of 
iron. v 

In Sutton this ore yields from 20 to 50 per cent, 
of iron. It often contains a portion of titanium, as 
rutile, ilmenite, or sphene. 

Magnetic Iron Ore. — Sutton: A bed of 12 
feet thick, consisting of dolomite, abounding in 
small crystals of the magnetic oxyd of iron, which 
equals, in many specimens, about 56 per cent, of the 
mass, thus giving an iron ore containing about 38 
per cent, of metal. Two other bands of dolomite 
run parallel with the one mentioned, all in the space 
of 100 yards, on the property of Mr. Oramel Stutson. 

Marmora Iron Mine, Belmont, commonly known 
as the Big Iron Ore Bed of Marmora. It appears, 
however, not to be a single bed, but a succession 
of them (one measuring 100 feet in thickness), 
interstratified with thin bands of crystalline lime- 
stone and talcose slate, associated with diallage rock, 
serpentine, and epidosite. The breadth of the mass 
is eight chains. The ore contains between 60 and 
70 per cent, of iron. Many years ago a furnace 
was erected at Marmora to smelt it, and iron of 
superior quality was manufactured. More recently, 
different companies have, for short periods, renewed 
smelting operations, with very satisfactory results 



A Hand-booh for Settlers. 99 

in respect to the quality of the iron produced ; but 
the distance of the place from a shipping port has 
proved a serious obstacle to success.* 

Newborough, S. Crosby: A bed of 200 feet 
thick in gneiss. It is situated on Mud Lake,, a part 
of the Eideau Canal, and is the property of Messrs. 
G. Chaffey and Brothers, who mine the ore, and 
supply it at Kingston for 2 \ dollars the ton, to 
vessels which carry it as back freight to Cleveland, 
on Lake Erie; whence it finds its way to the 
smelting furnaces at Pittsburg, on the Ohio, in the 
State of Pennsylvania. About 400'0 tons of the ore 
were thus exported in 1859. 

Hull: A bed of about 90 feet in thickness. 
Messrs. Forsyth and Co. commenced mining this 
ore in 1854, for the supply of their own furnaces at 
Pittsburg. Up to 1858 they had exported about 
8000 tons. It contains between 60 and 70 per cent, 
of iron. 

Grenville : A bed about 10 feet thick in gneiss, 
on the property of Mr. Thomas Loughran. 

* Since this report appeared, copper ore and lead ore combined 
with silver have been found in this neighbourhood, and the distance 
from a shipping port is now lessened, as a steamer can take the ore 
from Heely's Falls, a distance of only eight miles, up the river Trent, 
into Eice Lake, whence it can be conveyed by railroad to Coburg, on 
Lake Ontario. There is not capital enough in the country to carry 
out the speculation of renewing smelting operations on a sufficiently 
extended scale ; if any English Company would try the experiment 
large fortunes might be made in a short time. 

LofC. 



100 Canada in 1864: 

Grandison : A bed of about 20 feet thick in 
gneiss, on Government land. 

Madoc : A bed of 25 feet thick in gneiss. The 
ore is very free from sulphur, and yields to analysis 
about 70 per cent, of iron ; it is a natural magnet, 
displaying strong polarity. 

South Sherbrooke : A bed of about 12 feet thick 
in gneiss. The ore contains between 60 and 70 per 
cent, of iron. 

Hastings Road, north side : A bed in gneiss. 

Ilmenite, or Titaniferous Iron Ore with Rutile. — 
St. Urbain, Bay St. Paul: A bed of 90 feet thick, 
which is exposed for 300 feet on the strike, and is 
traceable for about a mile. The ore has yielded to 
analysis — 

Oxyd of titanium . . .48*60 
Protoxyd of iron . . . 46'44 
Magnesia . . . 3' 60 



98-64 

LEAD. 

Galena, or Suljphnret of Lead. — Gaspe, Indian 
Cove : A vein which rises northward into a hill about 
700 feet in height, constituting Gaspe promontory. 
The vein has a width of about 1 8 inches. About 
six tons of ore of 60 per cent, have been obtained 
from a trial shaft of twenty feet in depth. 

Ramsay Mines, Ramsay : A shaft has been sunk 
on the lode to the depth of 37 feet, and the working 



A Hand-book for Settlers. 101 

of 75 fathoms of ground, in 1858, yielded 26 tons 
of ore of 80 per cent. A smelting furnace has been 
erected, with a fifty-horse-power engine. 

Lansdowne. 

Bedford : The distance between the Lansdowne 
and Bedford lodes is about 25 miles ; they bear for 
one another, and it appears not at all improbable 
that the veins in the two localities may be identical, 
or belong to one group. Though now abandoned, 
some of these are supposed to be still unexhausted ; 
and two of them are known, at one period, to have 
yielded a great quantity of ore, one of them as 
much as 142 dollars worth to a fathom. 

COPPER. 

Sulphurets of Copper. — Bscott, near Brockville : 
The ore from this bed has yielded 10 per cent, of 
copper. 

Bruce Mines, Lake Huron : The main lode, which 
is worked with another of about the same thickness, 
is, on an average, from 2 to 4 feet wide. In a 
careful examination made in 1848, about 3000 square 
fathoms of these lodes were computed to contain 
about 6 | per cent, of copper. The quantity of 
ore obtained from the mine, since its opening in 
1847, is stated to be about 9000 tons of 18 per cent. 
The number of men employed is thirty-four. The 
ores are in part sent to the Baltimore market, and 
in part to the United Kingdom. 

Wellington Mine, Lake Huron: The lodes of 



102 Canada in 1864 : 

this mine are probably a north-westward continua- 
tion of those of the Bruce mine. The quantity of 
ore obtained by the West Canada Mining Company 
since 1857 is a little over 6000 tons of 20 per cent. 
In 1861, the quantity was 1175 tons of 19 per cent., 
and from the Huron Copper Bay Mine, 1300 tons, 
making the total quantity obtained in that year about 
3000 tons. The number of men employed is 260. 
All of the ore raised by this Company is sent to 
the United Kingdom. 

Acton Mine, Acton : The ore of this mine occurs 
in masses. In the first few weeks' work in 1859, 
about 300 tons of ore, containing nearly 30 per cent. 
of copper, were quarried, in open cuttings, from two 
of the masses, without making much apparent im- 
pression on the quantity in sight. The total quan- 
tity sent from the mine up to the end of 1861 is 
nearly 6000 tons, holding, on the average, about 
17 per cent, of copper. 

Upton Mine, Upton. 

Bissonette's Mine, Upton. 

Wickham Mine, Wickham : An experimental 
shaft has been sunk to a depth of about 5 fathoms ; 
about 4 tons of 30 per cent, ore have been obtained 
from the excavation. 

Yale's Mine, Durham. 

Black Eiver Mine, St. Flavien. 

Harvey's Hill Mine, Leeds : The English and 
Canadian Mining Company employs about fifty hands. 



A Hand-booh for Settlers. 103 

St. Francis Mine, Cleveland. 

Jackson's Mine, Cleveland. 

Coldspring Mine, Melbourne. 

Sweet's Mine, Sutton. 

Craig's Range Mine, Chester. 

Nicolet Branch Mine, Ham. 

Garthby : This appears to be a large mass of 
iron and copper pyrites, running N.E. and S.W. 
In some parts sulphuret of iron prevails, almost to 
the exclusion of that of copper, while in others there 
is as much as 8 per cent, of copper. Some parts 
assume the aspect of what, among Cornish miners, is 
termed "bell-metal ore." 

Haskell Hill Mine, Ascot : The quantity of ore 
obtained from the bed by five men in five months is 
about 100 tons, yielding 8 per cent, of pure copper. 
A vein on lot 17, range 7, of Ascot, within a mile 
of Sherbrooke, in addition to the yellow sulphuret 
of copper, has been found to hold traces of gold. 

Native Copper. — Harrison's Location, St. Ignace* 
Island, Lake Superior: The vein is about four or 
■&ve inches wide, and holds masses of native copper, 
many of them weighing upwards of 100 lbs., accom- 
panied by native silver. 

Michipicoten Island, Lake Superior : The quan- 
tity of metal is equal to about 5 per cent. 

Mamainse, Lake Superior : 450 lbs. of native 
copper in a single sheet, from a vein, was sent as 
a specimen to the London International Exhibition, 



104 Canada in 1864: 

1862. Here are occasionally found the remains of 
Indian hammers, giving evidence of rude aboriginal 
attempts at mining many centuries since. 

Smelted Copper. — Bruce Mines, Lake Huron. 

NICKEL. 

Sulphur et of Nicltel. — Orford. 

SILVER. 

Native Silver. — Prince's Location, Lake Supe- 
rior : The location is the property of the British- 
American Mining Company, and in a small trial shaft 
sunk by them, to the depth of between six and 
seven fathoms, on the mainland, where the lode is 
four feet wide, several hundred pounds of the vein 
contained 3| per cent, of silver.* 

GOLD. 

Native Gold. — Fief St. Charles, Seigniory of 
Aubert de Tlsle : Nuggets found here, some of 

* Extract from a newspaper of the 20th December, 1863 : — 
" Evidence of the richness of the silver deposits on Lake Superior 
ssems to be constantly accumulating. George Cummingshas opened 
a vein this week on section 15, township 49, N. of range 26 W., 
. . . from which . . he brought in some 100 lbs. of extremely- 
rich ore, some of the specimens weighing from 5 to 10 lbs., and 
almost pure. The ore is a bright steel colour, indicating a high per 
centage of silver. The vein, where the blasting was done, is about 
two feet wide. The richness with which the veins open is most 
astonishing, exceeding any deposits of the kind known before." 
Silver is reported to be found in the township of Lake Huron. 



A Hand-book for Settlers. 



105 



them weighing from 10 dwts. to 126 dwts., were 
sent as specimens to the London International 
Exhibition, 1862. 

Various companies have made trials of auriferous 
drift in several places, one of the most important 
having been on the Riviere des Plantes ; but of this 
it is not easy to procure authentic details. In 1851, 
the Canada Gold Mining Company commenced a 
trial of the drift along the Riviere du Loup, near its 
junction with the Chaudiere, which continued three 
years. The following are the results for the years 
1851 and 1852 :— 



Area washed. 
Sq. acres. 

1851 4 

1852 f 



G-old collected, 
dwts. grs. 

2107-11 

2880-19 



4987-30 



Yalue. 
dols. 

1826-46 
2496-69 


Wages, 
dols.' 

1644-33 

1888-35 


4323-15 


3532-68 



Profit, 
dols. 

182-13 
508-34 

690-47 



Seigniory of Yandreuil, Beauce : In the nugget 
of 80 dwts. with quartz, sent to the London Inter- 
national Exhibition, 1862, the proportion of the 
gold was 64 per cent. 

Rapids of the Chaudiere, parish of St. Francois 
(Beauce) : In an analysis made by Mr. Hunt, in 
1 854, a portion of the galena separated by washing, 
but still containing a small mixture of the blende 
and pyrites, gave, by assay of 500 grains, 69 per 
cent, of lead, and 32 ounces of silver to the ton of 
ore. Another sample of 500 grains, more carefully 



106 Canada in 1864 : 

dressed, gave 37 ounces of silver to the ton. The 
silver contained a small quantity of gold. Another 
portion of 500 grains, of the sample which gave 
69 per cent, of lead, afforded by cupellation a 
quantity of silver equal to not less than 25G ounces 
of silver to the ton. 

PLATINUM AND IRIDOSMINE. 

Native Platinum. — Grains of platinum and of 
iridosmine, in very small quantities, are met with 
among the drift gold of the Chaudiere. 

MINERALS APPLICABLE TO CHEMICAL MANUFACTURES. 

Chromic Iron. — Mount Albert, Shickshock range, 
Graspe : Found in masses, the largest weighing about 
20 lbs. 

Ham. 

Bolton : The ore occurs in masses of from 50 to 
1000 lbs. in weight. 

Molybdenite, or Sulphuret of Molybdenum. — Que- 
tachoo River, Manicouagan Bay, north shore, Gulf of 
St. Lawrence. 

Cobaltiferous Iron Pyrites. — Elizabethtown, near 
Brockville : Assays of the ore have yielded one half 
of 1 per cent, of cobalt. 

Dolomite. — Lithe eastern townships avast quan- 
tity of dolomite occurs in bands, which are from 
10Q to 300 feet thick. 

Magnesite, or Carbonate of Magnesia. — Sutton. 

Bolton: The purest specimens contain 80 per 



A Hand-booh for Settlers. 107 

cent, of carbonate of magnesia, with a portion of 
carbonate of iron. 

The most important application of this mineral 
is probably for the fabrication of a cement to resist 
the action of sea -water. 

Petroleum, or Rock Oil. — Natural springs of 
rock oil have long been known in several localities 
in Western Canada. There are two in the township 
of Enniskillen. Wells sunk to a depth of from 
40 to 60 feet, through the superficial clays, en- 
counter a stratum of gravel, resting on the surface 
of the rock beneath, and often filled with oil, giving 
origin to what are called surface wells. Within an 
area of four square miles in the first three ranges of 
the township, there were supposed to be, in August 
1861, about seventy wells, yielding more or less oil. 
Forty of these were surface wells. Some wells 
bored in July and August, 1861, are stated to have 
yielded from 400 to 500 barrels of oil in a week or 
two after having been opened. Two bored wells, 
belonging to Mr. Williams, yielded together, during 
some months, from 20 to 25 barrels (of 40 gallons 
each) daily. Wells bored to a depth of nearly 200 
feet have yielded less oil than the surface wells. 

In Pennsylvania the supply of oil from the flow- 
ing wells soon diminished, and eventually failed. 

Tilsonburgh : Near the village of Tilsonburgh, 
in the township of Dereham, natural oil springs occur. 
In the townships of Zone, Mosa, and Orford, on the 



108 Canada in 1864 : 

banks of the Thames,, oil springs abound for a distance 
of four miles. The oil-bearing limestone underlies 
an area of 7000 square miles in Western Canada. 

Bituminous Shale. — Collingwood. 

Works were erected in 1859 by Messrs. Pollard 
and Macdonell, consisting of 24 retorts, capable of 
yielding about 250 gallons of oil daily, by the dis- 
tillation of from 20 to 30 tons of shale. The cost 
of the crude oil was 14 cents (about sevenpence) 
the gallon. The works have been repeatedly de- 
stroyed by fire, and are for the present abandoned. 

Phosphate of Lime (Apatite). — North Elmsley. 

South Burgess : The deposit of phosphate of 
lime seen in North Elmsley, appears to be continued 
south-westwardly through Burgess. 

REFRACTORY MINERALS. 

Soapstone (steatite, compact talc). — Bolton. 

Sutton. 

Potstone (compact chlorite). — Bolton. 

Mica. — Found in Grenville, and North and South 
Burgess. 

Plumbago } or Blacldead. — Pointe du Chene 
Graphite Mine, county of Argenteuil. 

Lochaber : The workable beds which have been 
observed, are chiefly in various townships on the 
north side of the Ottawa. 

Asbestus. — Generally a fibrous serpentine or 
chrysotile, which occurs in veins cutting the serpen- 
ine of the eastern townships. 



A Hand-booh for Settlers. 109 

Friable Sandstone. — Used to protect the sides 
and bottoms of furnaces in iron foundries. 

Fire-clay. — In Mr. Gartshore's foundry at 
Dundas, this clay has entirely superseded the fire- 
clay formerly imported from the United States. 

MINERALS APPLICABLE TO COMMON AND DECORATIVE 
CONSTRUCTION. 

Limestones. — Amprior, MaclSfab. 

Cornwall. 

Montreal. 

Chevrotiere. 

The quantity of stone annually quarried in the 
vicinity of Montreal is over 90,000 tons. 

The produce of the quarries of La Chevrotiere has 
a deserved celebrity in Quebec, where it has been 
used in the construction of churches and other 
buildings. 

Dolomites , or Magnesian limestone. — Owen Sound. 

Noisy River Falls, Nottawasaga. 
, Rockwood, Eramosa. 

Guelph. 

Oxbow, Saugeen River : This is the best dolo- 
mite which has been discovered in the country. It 
resembles the Caen stone in the facility with which 
it can be worked. 

Sandstones. — Lyn, Elizabethtown. 

Nepean. 

Quin's Point, Seigniory of La Petite Nation : 



110 Canada in 1864 : 

This stone has been used in the constrnction of the 
Parliament buildings at Ottawa. 

Pembroke. 

Hamilton, Barton. 

Georgetown, Esqnesing : The stone from here 
has been nsed in constructing culverts on the Grand 
Trunk Railway, and numerous buildings in Toronto. 

Nottawasaga, and other places. 

Labradorite. — The opalescent variety of Labra- 
dorite occurs in cleavable masses in a fine grained 
base of the same mineral character, which forms 
mountain masses. Where these are thickly dis- 
seminated in the paste, the stone becomes a beau- 
tiful decorative material, applicable to architectural 
embellishment, and to articles of furniture. It is 
worked at a cost beyond that of marble, but not 
greater than is proportionate to the superior beauty 
and durability of the material. 

Gneiss. — St. Charles Reservoir, Jeune Lorette : 
This stone has been used for building the dam and 
reservoir of the Quebec Water-works, on the St. 
Charles River. Masses of almost any size can be 
blasted out from the rock, and large blocks have 
been dressed and applied to the masonry work 
of the reservoir, which will, no doubt, prove a 
structure of the most lasting character. 

Syenite. — Grenville. 

Barrow Island, River St. Lawrence, opposite 
Gananoque. 



A Hand-booh for Settlers. Ill 

Granite. — St. Joseph, Beauce : This band of 
granite has been nsed for millstones, and would 
yield a strong and durable building stone. 

Barnston, and other places. 

MAEBLES. 

Limestones. — Arnprior : Light and dark grey 
marble. 

Elzivir : White marble. 

Grenville : Yellowish-white marble. 

Augmentation of Grenville : Spotted green and 
white marble. 

St. Armand : White marble, and black marble. 

St. Joseph, Beauce : Eed marble, veined with 
white. 

Caughnawaga : Grey marble, and grey with red 
spots. 

St. Dominique : Dove-grey marble. 

1/ Original : Grey marble with white spots. ' 

Pointe Claire : Brownish black, and greenish 
black. 

Cornwall : Black marble. 

Pakenham : Brown marble. 

Gloucester : Brownish grey marble. 

Montreal : Grey marble. 

Dudswell : Cream white marble. 

Serpentines. — Orford : Dark green serpentine, 
.and dark green striped with light green. 

Melbourne : Green and white. 



112 Canada in 1S64 : 

St. Joseph, Beauce : Green, veined with white. 

These rocks, or others immediately near them, 
contain the metals iron, lead, zinc, copper, nickel, 
silver and gold ; with the drift gold, derived from 
these strata, are found platinum, iridosmine, and 
traces of mercury. 

SLATES, FLAGSTONES, LIME, BEICKS, AND DRAIN TILES. 

Roofing Slates. — Walton Quarry, Melbourne : 
Mr. Walton commenced opening a quarry in 1860, 
and found it necessary to make a tunnel through the 
serpentine. The cost was 30,000 dollars. Up to a 
comparatively recent period, the usual coverings of 
houses in Canada have been wooden shingles, gal- 
vanized iron, or tin-plate ; but so many destructive 
fires have occurred from the use of the first of these, 
that they are now interdicted in all large towns. 
Slate, as a covering, costs about one-third more than 
shingles, but one-half less than tin, and one-third 
less than galvanized iron. In the following table are 
shown — 1st, the sizes of the slates, in inches ; 2nd, 
the number of such slates in a square (of 100 
square feet) ; and, 3rd, the price per square at which 
Mr. Walton supplies his slates, placed on the rail- 
road cars at Eichmond, which is within a mile and 
a-half of the quarry. 



A Hand-book for Settlers. 



113 



Sizes. 


Num- 
ber. 


Price. 


Sizes. 


Num- 
ber. 


Price. 


Sizes. 


Num- 
ber. 


Price. 


24x16 


86 


$4 00c. 


20x10 


169 


§4 00c. 


14x10 


262 


$3 00c. 


24x14 


98 


4 00 


18x11 


175 


4 00 


14x 9 


291 


3 00 


24x12 


114 


4 00 


18x10 


192 


4 00 


14x 8 


327 


3 00 


22x12 


126 


4 00 


18x 9 


213 


4 00 


14x 7 


374 


2 75 


22x11 


138 


4 00 


16x10 


222 


3 75 


12x 8 


400 


2 75 


20X12 


141 


4 00 


16 x 9 


246 


3 75 


12 X 7 


457 


2 50 


20x11 


154 


4 00 


16x 8 


277 


3 60 


12x 6 


533 


2 25 



To show that slate,, as a covering, is well adapted 
to resist the influences of a Canadian climate, it may 
be stated that slates from Angers, in France, have 
been exposed on the roof of a building in Montreal 
for upwards of 100 years, without any perceptible 
( deterioration. 

Slate for roofing is also found at Orford, Tring, 
Kingsly, Cleveland. 

Flagstones. — Georgetown, Esquesing : A hard, 
fine-grained sandstone, which can be split into 
flagstones. They are used at Toronto and Hamil- 
ton. 

Hydraulic Lime. — St. Catherines. 

Formerly the quantity of cement manufactured, 
during the construction of railways and other public 
works, averaged 80,000 bushels annually; the 
quantity made now does not exceed one-tenth of the 
amount. The price now is about a shilling per 
bushel of 60 lbs. 

8 



114 Canada in 186-i : 

Walkerton. 

Limelioiise. 

Nepean. 

Pockwood. 

Magdalen Eiver. 

Common Lime. — Guelph : The stone occurs here 
in unlimited quantities. 

Walkerton : This remarkably white lime makes 
a superior whitewash, and a strong cement. 

Montreal : This limestone yields the best stone 
for building purposes, and also burns to excellent 
lime, of which 2 70,000 bushels per annum are manu- 
factured at Montreal at 16f cents per bushel. 

Common Bricks. — Owen Sound. 

Walkerton, Brant. 

St. Jean, County of Lotbiniere. 

Montreal : Messrs. Peel and Compte manufac- 
ture 6,000,000 common bricks annually, which are 
sold at from 5 to 6 dollars per 1000. The red bricks 
of Montreal are manufactured from a blue clay of 
marine origin, as is proved by the occurrence of sea 
shells ; all probably the same as species now inha- 
biting the ocean. The remains of the capeling 
(Mallotus villosus) and the lump -sucker (Cyclostomus 
lumpus) are obtained from the same clays near 
Ottawa. In one of Messrs. Peel and Compters pits 
has been found a nearly entire skeleton of the Green- 
land seal, a species still liviug in the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence ; from the size of the head, the animal 



A Hand-book for Settlers. 115 

appears to have been six feet long, and full 
grown. 

The quantity of bricks manufactured by Messrs. 
Buhner and Sheppard is equal to 6,000,000 per 
annum. In this manufacture they use Boaden's 
brick-making machine. 

Toronto : The deposit of clay extends eastward, 
at least as far as Cobourg. The average annual 
manufacture of all kinds of bricks is from 8,000,000 
to 10,000,000. The price of common red bricks is 
from 3 dollars to 4 dollars per 1000. 

Drain Tiles. — North Plantaganet : Tiles are 
manufactured by Mr. Thomas Gibb, at Treadwell, 
from a blue clay, which forms a considerable deposit 
on the banks of the Ottawa. The price of them is 
10 dollars per 1000. 

Quebec : Tiles made by Messrs. W. and D. Bell 
are used for main sewers and house drains in the 
city of Quebec, where 151,000 of them have been 
laid. 

GRINDING AND POLISHING MINERALS. 

Whetstones. — Stanstead. 

Hatley, Massawippi Lake. 

Bolton. 

Kingsey. 

Collingwood. 

Nottawasaga. 

Madoc. 



116 Canada in 1864 : 

Hones. — Otterfcail Lake, Thessalon River. 

Grindstones. — Nottawasaga : Considerable num- 
bers of grindstones are made by hand here, and in 
the township of Mulmur, and are declared by prac- 
tical men to be superior to those imported. A lathe 
for turning them could be erected for about £200 
sterling. 

Millstones. — Grenville. 

Cayuga, north of Talbot Road. 

Millstones for grinding oats and barley are 
manufactured by Mr. W. De Cew, of De Cewville, 
in the county of Haldimand. 

MINERAL MANURES. 

Gypsum . — Oneida. 
York, Grand River. 

The following is the amount of gypsum raised 
annually from the quarries on the Grand River : — 

T. Martindale, Oneida . . 3500 tons. 

F. Donaldson, Oneida . . 1500 „ 

A. Taylor, York . . . 3000 „ 

Thompson and Wright, Paris 4000 „ 

F. Brown, Cayuga . . . 2000 „ 



14,000 



The greater part of this gypsum is used for 
agricultural purposes, and the prices at which it is 
sold are as follows : — 



A Hand-booh for Settlers. 117 

Plaster, unground . . . $2 per ton. 

„ ground for the land . $3 to $4 „ 

3 j „ ,, stucco, raw . $5 „ $7 „ 

,3 33 „ „ calciued $16 „ 

Fresh-water Shell Marl. — JSTew Edinburgh. 

Sheffield. 

Montreal. 

Nepean. 

West Hawkesbuiy. 

Brant, north of Durham Road. 

Carrick. 

Bentinck. 

Anticosti. 

Belleville. 

St. Armand. 

Calcareous Tufa. — Noisy River Falls. 

MINERAL PAINTS. 

Iron Ochres. — Ste. Anne de Montmorenci. 

Cap de la Madelaine. 

Pointe du Lac. 

In 1851 Messrs. H. A. Monroe and Co., of New 
York, made arrangements to prepare the ochres for 
sale. The prevailing colours are red and yellow, 
but there occurs also in some parts a beautiful 
purple ochre, and in others a blackish brown. From 
these natural tints, eight colours are said to have 
been prepared. The deposit being but little mixed 
with sand, the chief impurities consisted of the roots 



118 Canada in 1864 : 

of those plants which had been growing on the sur- 
face. The blackish brown variety, when purified from 
roots, without fire, is sold under the name of raw 
sienna ; when subjected to fire, it assumes a brown 
of less intensity, and is sold as burnt sienna. 

Nottawasaga. 

Owen Sound. 

Sulphates of JBarytes. — Burgess. 

Lansdowne. 

In Canada this mineral is as yet applied to no use, 
but in some parts of the United States it is refined 
and ground in large quantities, for use as a paint, 
and also for adulterating white lead. The value of 
the crude barytes suited for such a purpose is about 
10 dollars per ton, while the wholesale price of the 
paint is 30 dollars per ton. 

MINERALS APPLICABLE TO THE PINE ARTS. 

Lithographic Stone. — Marmora : One of the beds, 
which is two feet thick, and of impalpable grain, is 
a lithographic stone of excellent quality. The band 
to which the bed belongs extends from Hungerford 
to Rama, a distance of 100 miles; but though the 
stone has been highly commended by all the litho- 
graphers who have tried it, no one has attempted to 
quarry it for use. 

Brant. 

Oxbow, Saugeen Eiver, Brant.* 

* Splendid lithographic stone is also found on the Burleigh 
Eoad. 



A Hand-booh for Settlers. 119 

MINERALS APPLICABLE TO JEWELLERY. 

Agates. — Michipicoten and St. Ignace Islands, 
Lake Superior, 

Labradorite. — Grenville. 

Abercrombie. 

Albite (Peristerite) . — Bathurst. 

Orthoclase (Perthite) . — Burgess. 

Jasper conglomerate. — Bruce Mines, Lake Huron : 
This beautiful rock consists of white quartzite, in 
•which, are imbedded a multitude of blood-red jasper 
pebbles, which constitute a material fit to receive 
the work of the jeweller. The whole rock is capable 
of being applied to the manufacture of vases and 
such like articles of virtu. Many boulders of the rock 
lie scattered along the north coast of Lake Huron, 
and they are abundant at the Bruce Mines. 

Epidosite. — Shickshock Mountains : This green 
rock occurs in massive beds, and extends over 
considerable areas in the Shickshock Mountains, 
on the south side of the St. Lawrence, in Gaspe. 

MISCELLANEOUS MINERALS. 

Feldspar. — Bathurst. 

Sandstone for glass - making \ — Williamstown, 
Beauharnois. 

Moulding Sand. — Dundas. 

Owen Sound. 

Durham. 

Peat. — Chambly. 



120 Canada in 1864 : 

Peat occurs near Chambly, on the south side of 
the St. Lawrence,, and was some years ago cut, 
pressed, and sold as fuel by the late Mr. Scobell. 
As Canada is deficient in coal, when wood becomes 
scarce in the progress of settlement, peat will gradu- 
ally assume some importance as a fuel in many parts 
of the country. It occurs in great abundance in 
many places in the province; about 100 square 
miles of it extend along the south front of the Island 
of Anticosti. 

I must now bring this catalogue of minerals to 
a close, believing that I have given the settler suffi- 
cient information to guide him to the different 
localities in which they are to be found, and where 
he may obtain a chance of employment, and perhaps 
even of making a fortune. For fuller particulars I 
refer my readers to a work published in Canada by 
the Geological Society. 

I subjoin, also by the "permission of the mem- 
bers of the Geological Survey, a short description of 
the crystalline rocks of Canada : — 

CRYSTALLINE ROCKS OF CANADA. 

Rocks of the Laurenticm System. — The rocks of 
this system are the oldest known on the globe, and 
are widely spread in North America, where they are 
traced from the coast of Labrador to Lake Huron, 
and thence northward to the Arctic regions. They 
consist in great part of orthoclase gneiss, with 



A Hand-book for Settlers. 121 

quartzites, sometimes conglomerate, and crystalline 
limestones and dolomites. The total thickness of 
these strata is estimated at not less than 20,000 feet. 
Besides these, there is a great formation of anortho- 
site rocks. In the Lanrentian System there is an 
absence of anything like argillite or clay- slate. In 
the gneiss and limestone series, the beds are chiefly 
of magnetic and oligist iron. In the anorthosites 
the only ones met with are beds of titaniferons iron 
or ilmenite. 

Rocks of the Huronian Series. — These rest upon 
those of the Laurentian System, and are in part 
made up of the ruins of the latter. The series is 
met with at Lake Temiscaming, on the Ottawa, and 
on Lakes Huron and Superior. Its thickness on 
the north shore of Lake Huron is supposed to be 
18,000 feet. There is but a small amount of car- 
bonate of lime in it, and also an absence of gneiss. 
Quartzite may be said to be the predominant rock 
in the Huronian Series. Its colours are white, 
grey, brownish, and sometimes greenish or reddish. 
These quartzites often become conglomerate, from 
the presence of various coloured pebbles of quartz 
and jasper. The latter are frequently blood-red in 
colour, and being imbedded in a white or a green- 
ish base, constitute a very beautiful rock. 

Rocks of the Silurian Series. — The Notre-Dame 
and Shickshock Mountains are the N.E. prolonga- 
tion of the great Appalachian chain, which extends 



122 Canada in 1864: 

from the Gulf of St. Lawrence nearly to the Gulf 
of Mexico. They attain, in some places, a height 
of more than 4000 feet above the sea. They con- 
sist of gneiss, anorthosite, diorite, epidosite, garnet- 
rock, mica-rock, mica- schist, argillites, chlorite, 
magnesite, dolomites, and limestones, sandstones, 
etc., etc. 

Intrusive Roclcs. — The results of recent geolo- 
gical investigations in various parts of the world, 
lead to the conclusion that many rocks, formerly 
regarded as intrusive or exotic, are really sediments, 
altered in situ, or indigenous rocks. Such is the 
case with many granites, syenites, greenstones, 
amygdaloids, porphyries, and serpentines; all of 
which are represented among the altered strata of 
Canada. These sediments at the time of their 
metamorphism were, however, in such a plastic 
state that they were sometimes displaced and forced 
among the overlying and disrupted strata. Intru- 
sive masses, so far as known, are extremely rare in 
the Laurentian System, except in one small area in 
the counties of Grenville and Argenteuil. To the 
S.E. of the Lower Silurian Mountains, and to tih^B 
N.W. along the valleys of the St. Lawrence and 
Lake Champlain, are a series of intrusive rocks, the 
more characteristic varieties of which are quartzi- 
ferous porphyry, trachytes, phonolite dolerite, and 
peridotite. 



A Sand-booh for Settlers. 123 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Country taverns — Backwoods verses — Lumbering and lumber-men 
— The old cook — Mormonism and Mormons — Sects — Camp 
meetings. 

In most of tlie small villages in Canada the traveller 
will find two taverns, where he may have breakfast 
or dinner for a shilling English, and may occasionally 
procure a glass of tolerable beer. Strong green tea 
is the beverage at every meal, black being rarely 
taken. The whiskey at these country inns is gene- 
rally of the cheapest and also of the worst descrip- 
tion, yet on the whole preferable to, and less inju- 
rious than, the rum and brandy made from it, and 
only to be known by some decoction added to each 
liquor to give it its distinctive flavour. At almost 
every public-house on the road you will see two or 
three blear-eyed, unkempt individuals, keeping an 
eye on the too tempting bottle at the bar ; these 
are tavern -loafers, who live and die on whiskey 
hanging about the place, chopping wood when sober 
enough, or watering the traveller's horse. The bill 



124 Canada in 1864 : 

of fare is pretty good ; broiled ham, pumpkin pie, 
and tea, with occasionally some fresh meat in the 
season ; but fried pork and " sarse" is the ordinary 
dish among the lower orders, the sarse being the 
fat in which the pork is fried. As a delicacy, you 
are sometimes treated to molasses, called here "lasses 
fixings/ ' and a pumpkin or apple tart finishes the 
repast. 

The lower classes in Canada are miserable 
cooks, worse even than in England ; and but little 
variety in the culinary department, such as made 
dishes or similar luxuries, prevails among the gentry. 
It is a common custom with the latter to have a 
sheep killed at noon, and to dress part of it for the 
day's dinner; and the same plan is pursued with 
turkeys and fowls, thus ensuring their tenderness, 
as I was informed by a young lady whom I ques- 
tioned on the subject. 

On the first occasion of my passing the night at 
a small village tavern in Upper Canada, it was in- 
timated to me by the landlord, quite as a matter of 
course, that I was to share the sleeping accom^ 
modation already occupied by a wandering Italian 
with his hurdygardy; and on nry dissenting from 
this arrangement, mine host was not only irate, but 
evidently astonished. However, after a little trouble, 
I succeeded in inducing him to give me a shake- 
down on the floor. The general amusement at these 
taverns is card-playing, varied now and then by a 



A Hand-hook for Settlers. 125 

hoe-dance. Never shall I forget one of these enter- 
tainments, which took place on the 5th of November. 
I had just returned, tired and wet through, from the 
backwoods, and on my asking for a bed, the land- 
lord (an Irishman) informed me that there was to 
be an evening party, and that he feared it would 
prevent my having much sleep. Nevertheless, I 
crept quickly to my couch in a small hole at the top 
of the house before the arrival of the guests, but all 
in vain ! Tt was an Orange jubilee, and about seven 
o'clock three fiddles struck up, the dance com- 
menced, and ended not until seven the next morning ; 
the shoutings and yellings exceeded anything I have 
ever heard, and I need hardly add that Morpheus 
was a stranger to my pillow. No charge, however, 
was made to me for that night's unrest. One of 
the company was quite a poet in his w T ay, and he 
favoured the rest with the following song of his 
own composition, which I subjoin for the reader's 
benefit, leaving him to judge of the merits of this 
bard of the backwoods : — • 

" Tell me, oh ! where is your star-spangled banner, 
That you swore would ' lick all creation in fits' ? 
Is it daub'd in the mud of the Southern Savannah, 
Or torn by the South into wee little bits ? 

" Have your stars ceas'd to shine, your eagle ceas'd flying, 
The bald-headed eagle— that scavenger bird ? 
Have your people ceas'd boasting, and nations defying ? 
Was fighting or flying at Bull's Eun preferr'd ? 



126 Canada in 1864 : 

" Yes ! the bald-headed eagle your Franklin* pronounc'd 
Is the meanest of birds flying under the sun ; 
He perhaps hover' d oyer you when you were trounc'd 
That glorious day at immortal Bull's Eun. 

"That star-spangled banner shall blazon no more, 

And the bald-headed eagle his prey must disgorge ; 
While the stout British lion shall prevail as of yore, 
While proudly still triumphs the flag of St. George !" 

The lumber-men lead rather a jovial sort of life 
in the shanties, which it is customary to build far 
away in the backwoods, and close to the spot on 
which the timber is to be cut. These fellows are 
mostly a rough, wild, heterogeneous set — French 
from Lower, English, Scotch, and Irish from Upper 
Canada, often with a half-nautical element in their 
composition. Their pay is from ten to fifteen dollars 
a month, but those who hew the timber with the 
broad axe have from twenty to thirty, and some- 
times more. Each gang of some half dozen men 
are under a u boss," whose wages are rather higher 
than theirs. The shanties are well supplied ^rith 
provisions, such as salt pork and beef, potatoes, and 
molasses, and tea is drunk ad libitum. Fat pork is 
the especial glory of the lumber-man, who will fre- 
quently turn out of his bunk three or four times in 
the night to devour a lump of it, qualified with a 

* Franklin says that the bald-headed eagle is a mean scavenger 
bird and a coward, and regrets that his countrymen should have 
adopted it as their national emblem. 



A Eand-booh for Settlers. 127 

draught of tea. Breakfast is over by daybreak, and 
all hands are off into the woods till noon, when they 
return to dinner, consisting* of pork and peas-soup ; 
then they work till dark, and after supper the fiddle 
strikes up, and the evening concludes with a song 
and a game of chequers. 

The timber is drawn on sleighs or floated down 
to the back lakes, thence to Lake Ontario, and 
thence to Quebec; about six or seven weeks are 
occupied in the entire transit. The lumber-men, of 
course, need provisions and hay, so the settlers can 
usually find a profitable market for their goods. 
Lumbering has been on the whole a flourishing 
trade, and the men have soon made fortunes, though 
in bad times they have also lost them. In one of 
the shanties in which I stayed, the boss was a 
broken-down pawnbroker from Belfast, and in ano- 
ther the cook had been in two of Sir John Franklin's 
expeditions. He naturally had many anecdotes to 
relate of perils and adventures, both grave and gay. 
One was to the effect that, after Sir John's return 
from one of his voyages, he and his crew were 
walking on Tower Hill, when, in passing an 
inn, his cocked hat was seized and borne off by a 
young lady of decidedly questionable character, and 
two days afterwards it was seen exposed for sale at 
a pawnbroker's opposite. Many were the hardships 
that old Mackenzie had endured : once he curried a 
dog's head as a reserve supply for nearly a fort- 



128 Canada in 1864 : 

night, and he assured me that stewed mocassins 
were not so bad after all. The poor fellow was in 
rather reduced circumstances, the Government 
having promised him a lot of land which he had 
never received. 

Chancing one day, when in the backwoods, to 
enter a nice clean shanty, decorated with paintings 
of different lands, I found that the owners had been 
Mormons, and that they had been long since in 
company with Brigham Young. Mr. and Mrs. 
Jones were intelligent people, and she must have 
been very good-looking in her younger days, when 
the prophet fell in love with her. From her I 
learned some interesting particulars of the sect, and 
most of her stories tally with those in Mrs. Ward's 
book, called " Life among the Mormons." Some 
years previous to my making her acquaintance, 
Mrs. Jones had been travelling as lady's-maid with 
an Irish family, who were crossing the Eo*cky Moun- 
tains on their way to Utah, with about fifteen hun- 
dred Mormons, under the appellation of l( The 
Hand-barrow Company." From her account, these 
poor deluded wretches must have suffered terrific 
hardships, most of them dying on the road of star- 
vation ; indeed, the scenes she depicted to me were 
no less horrible than those described by Josephus as 
having been witnessed during the siege of Jerusa- 
lem. To such extremities were these wretched beings 
reduced, that women ate their own children, and not 



A Hand-book for Settlers. 129 

more than one hundred out of the whole number 
survived to reach the promised land. 

I have a shrewd suspicion that on Mrs. Jones's 
arrival at the Great Salt Lake, she was almost im- 
mediately promoted to the honour of inhabiting the 
palace of the prophet, who at that time mustered about 
a hundred and seventy wives, with an innumerable 
offspring. Each wife has two rooms allotted to her, 
and more, should her family increase largely ; all 
are obliged, as far as outward appearances go, to live 
or. good terms with one another, but the misery of 
the women in Utah is not to be told ; once there, 
they are in fact prisoners for life, at all events they 
cease to be free agents, unless they can manage to 
effect their escape like Mrs. Jones, and a few others ; 
but this is next to impossible, for the " minute 
men " are always on the alert, and ready to start at 
a minute's notice (hence their name), and daily 
communication with every part of the country is 
kept up. 

Mrs. Jones, with a female companion, once 
made an unsuccessful attempt on horses to elude 
their master; they rode day and night, but were 
captured and taken back to Brigham Young, who 
put them in prison, where they were kept in close 
confinement for two months, and were then released 
on their making professions of repentance. Mrs. 
Jones enjoyed the reputation of being a skilful 
doctor among the ladies, and so had many oppor- 





130 Canada in 1864 : 

tunities of going about and learning tho private 
affairs of this extraordinary community. 

There are several different degrees among the 
Mormon religionists, and each has its secret tribunal 
or star-chaniber, before which any offender is tried, 
and, if found guilty, is condemned to the shades 
below ; he disappears from off the face of the earth, 
and no further inquiries are made after him — at 
least, so I was assured by Mrs. Jones. As soon as 
any one arrives at JJ tar (thus she pronounced it), 
the neophyte is inveigled to purchase something 
valuable, and to part with all his money, as being 
useless to him in his new abode ; when the bargain 
is concluded, the unlucky wight discovers all too 
late that his acquisition, as he deemed it, is the 
property of the Mormon sect. Every Mormon 
has to contribute a certain portion of his earnings 
per month, nominally towards the support of immi- 
grants ; altogether, it is not difficult to account for 
the prevailing notion that Brigham Young is the 
richest man in the world. Mormonism is at present 
still on the increase, and its votaries have agents in 
all regions of the globe. A magnificent country and 
splendid cities are theirs, and they manufacture all 
their implements of war and of husbandry, their 
internal resources thus rendering them independent 
of other people. Provisions for ten years are laid 
up in the great city, and from their position they 
can defy an invading army. When the Americans 



A Hand-book for Settlers. 131 

sent a force against them, they captured all the 
provisions of their unwelcome visitors, and seized 
their trains, so that the Yankees were glad to make 
off. Indeed, it was wonderful that they were in a 
condition to do so, for the Mormons had poisoned 
all the waters ; but my informant told me that the 
secret was divulged to one of the American soldiers 
by a freemason. 

The way in which Mrs. Jones did at last effect 
her escape was by joining with about twenty others, 
all pretending that their intention was to settle in 
some other part of the State ; and so they set off, 
taking with them articles of household furniture,, 
babies' cradles, and everything that might tend to 
disarm suspicion. They travelled several miles, 
guided by one of the band, who had formerly been 
an interpreter to the Indian tribes, and was ac- 
quainted with a short cut to the Yankee territory. 
Having burnt their incumbrances, they made post- 
haste and got clear of the Mormon country just as 
they were on the point of being overtaken by the 
minute men — indeed, a few in the rear were captured. 
An unsuccessful endeavour to abscond by a man is 
mostly punished with death by shooting ; a woman 
is carried back again to Utah to obey the dictates 
of Brigham Young as his wife, or as that of some 
ancient elder. A large Mormon settlement is now 
in course of formation near Chatham in Canada 
West. There can be no doubt that Young is a very 



132 Canada in 1864 : 

clever fellow, and Mrs. Jones speaks of his behaviour 
as being gallant. I understand that Smith junior 
proclaims himself to be the true prophet, and should 
war break out between these two rogues, Mormon- 
ism will in all probability be shattered in the con- 
flict. It must fall to the ground sooner or later, and 
the most likely period would seem to be that of 
Brighain's death, when an awful scene must ensue. 
But enough of this disgusting and yet wonderful 
people. 

As before mentioned, besides Episcopalians, 
Presbyterians, and Roman Catholics, a great di- 
versity of religious sects exists in Canada. Bible 
Christians, Baptists, Congregationalists, Quakers, 
Wesleyans, etc., etc. ; the latter being the most 
numerous class among the dissenters. Some of the 
congregations appear to be very pugilistic in their 
tendencies ; I lately read an account of' a fight in a 
Bible Christian meeting-house, in which one member 
broke a chair over the head of another; while, in 
an Episcopalian Methodist meeting, a young lady 
thrashed a man at his prayers most unmercifully 
with a bull's hide, and on his raising his face, she 
■flung a handful of cayenne pepper on it. A very 
backward state indeed of civilization in some of the 
regions of the colony is evidenced by these stories. 
A camp-meeting perhaps discloses more extraor- 
dinary vagaries than are to be met with in any other 
Nonconformist rites. In the midst of the forest is 



A Hand-booh for Settlers. 133 

erected a barricade, with, some small shanties, like 
fishermen's hnts in England; large fireplaces are 
built on posts, in which blazing fires are lighted. 
The minister jumps to his feet, and opens with a 
prayer in a soft and gentle tone, in the course of 
which a few groans are audible from the kneeling 
assembly ; these become gradually louder and louder; 
then the women begin to scream, and soon the scene 
resembles Bedlam — or rather ten Bedlams — broken 
loose ; the males beat their heads, the females shriek 
and faint, and this exhibition may continue for an 
hour or more, till all are quiet from sheer exhaustion. 
After awhile rises another minister, and the whole 
programme is repeated over and over again, with 
only an interval of rest at night, for a week and 
upwards. The scenes behind the curtain will not 
admit of being described in detail. At a little dis- 
tance from the camp, casks and bottles are passed 
about among the crowd, and intoxication, with 
its attendant evils, rides rampant among these 
deluded votaries of a religion that might have dis- 
graced heathenism. The Baptists in my neigh- 
bourhood seem to select the winter months for the 
dipping of their followers, and I was told that the 
immersion in our climate had proved fatal to several 
persons. There are a few itinerant Shakers, who 
reside principally in the States, carrying garden 
seeds about the country for sale. The Menonists 
and Tunkers are nearly extinct here. 



134 Canada in 1864 : 

As may easily be imagined, a certain amount of 
rivalry and ill-will shows itself among some of the 
members of so many denominations, especially at 
that season of the year when their time and thoughts 
are less occupied with work. However, on the 
whole, a feeling of good neighbourhood may be said 
to prevail among the settlers. And let us hope that, 
as the means of spreading the pure and ennobling 
worship and teaching of our own Church are multi- 
plied, these jealousies will gradually subside, and 
these degrading exhibitions of ignorance and blas- 
phemy will vanish in the light of Christian truth. 



A Hand-hook for Settlers. 135 



CHAPTER IX. 

Amusements — Hydrophobia — Variations of temperature — Lakes- 
Animals and Fish — Increase of population, of commerce, and 
of general prosperity in the colony — Schools and Colleges. 

As before stated, our country amusements are not 
numerous. In the towns,, besides the-skating rinks and 
the curling, a game called <c shinning " is a favourite 
diversion with the boys ; it is the same, or nearly the 
same, as our hockey. A trotting match on the ice is 
an exciting pastime, and one that frequently takes 
place ; and some of the horses are remarkably fast 
trotters. Speaking of them, I may just observe, en 
passant, that there is a fine opening in Canada for 
veterinary surgeons, which class is only represented 
in the smallest degree ; and in my own neighbour- 
hood a broken-down negro was our sole horse- 
doctor. Yachting is on the decline. When the 
Prince of Wales visited Canada a few years since, 
he gave a cup to be contested annually, but it is the 
cause of so much trouble and expense to the winner, 
who has to insure it while in his custody, that yachts- 
men are beginning to tire of it. Both in the larger 
and smaller class of yachts, American-built crafts have 



136 Canada in 1864 : 

been gaining every prize of late; the winner in the 
former class is the property of an English gentleman. 
Sailing across the ice in ice-boats is capital fun ; they 
work to windward like a sailing-vessel, and when 
they go about you will be pitched overboard, unless 
you are very careful ; in a strong wind they will glide 
along for twenty miles or more in an hour. In the 
summer cricket has been in great force of late years, 
and most of the small towns can turn out a decent 
eleven. The billiard tables are generally very poor ; 
every angle is marked, and the balls and the pockets 
are too large. The four-balled game is the one 
principally in vogue. 

There are many varieties of dogs, but a thorough 
bred one of any sort is rarely seen ; they are allowed 
to run about, and the breeds get mixed. The two 
most useful to the sportsman are the retriever for 
ducks, and the hound for deer — the latter should not 
be too finely bred. Hydrophobia is sadly prevalent, 
and several persons died last year from being bitten. 
One instance occurred of a man bitten in June, who 
survived till December. November is the worst 
month in Canada for this fearful disorder, and tho 
same is, I believe, the case in England ; in Norway, 
and Lapland also, dogs are more frequently attacked 
by madness in winter than in summer. 

I will now endeavour to convey some idea 
of the seasons and their temperature ; the two 
following tables are taken from the Records of 



A Hand-booh for Settlers, 



137 



the Provincial Magnetic Observatory, by Professor 
Kingston : — 

MEAN MONTHLY AND ANNUAL TEMPERATURE AT TORONTO, 
FROM 1840 TO 1859. 



1840) 
1859 j 



1840) 
1859 j 



Jan. 

23 3 -72 



Feb. 

22 3 -83 



March. 

30°-07 



April. 

4P-00 



May. 

51°-38 



June. 

61°-27 



July. 

67°-06 



Aug. 

66°-12 



Sept, 

57 D -98 



Oct. 

45"-27 



Nov. 

36 J -65 



Dec. 

25°-97 



Mean annual temperature, 44°'ll. 

MEAN MONTHLY AND ANNUAL FALL OE RAIN AT TORONTO. 
FROM 1840 TO 1859. 





Jan. 


Feb. 


March. 


April. 


May. 


June. 


1840) 
1859) 


In. 


In. 


In. 


In. 


In. 


In. 


1-408 


1-043 


1-553 


2-492 


3-305 


3-198 




July. 


Aug. 


Sept. 


Oct. 


Nor. 


Dec. 


1840) 
1859) 


In. 


In. 


In. 


In. 


In. 


In. 


3-490 


2-927 


4-099 


2-257 


3-109 


1-606 



Mean annual fall of rain, 30 "859 inches. 

In 1862, the hottest day was August 8th, the tem- 
perature being 79°*08 ; the coldest was the 23rd 
of January, the thermometer showing 2"42 below 
zero. 

The number of days on which rain fell was 118, 
the total fall being 25*529 inches. Snow fell on 
72 days, and the total depth was 85*4 inches ; the 



138 Canada in 1864 : 

greatest depth in one day (March 20th) was 
9*0 inches. There were twenty-four thunderstorms 
during the year. February was the month of the 
greatest, May of the least, humidity. November 
was the most cloudy month ; the least cloudy months 
being May and August. 

The inland seas or lakes of North America, com- 
prising an area of nearly 100,000 square miles, 
differ in some points from other large lakes. There 
are no mountain ranges of any considerable altitude 
at any part of the circumference of their basin ; the 
general aspect of the area is that of a great central 
plain, with successive terraces or plateaux. Their 
level has not undergone any extensive change for a 
considerable time ; and it is a remarkable fact as 
regards Lake Ontario, that its waters rise to a con- 
siderable height, and subside again, once in seven 
years. The water of these lakes is noted for its 
purity, the principal tributaries flowing over rocky 
beds ; they exercise a powerful influence over the 
climate, which they render more temperate. In 
the winter curling mists are observed overspreading 
them, when the ice is (C taking," as it is called. 
These are caused by the colder air of the surrounding 
atmosphere condensing the moisture of the warmer 
air on the surface of the lakes. The prevailing 
winds are from the north-east and south-west. 
Occasionally a tornado strikes the lakes, accompa- 
nied by waterspouts. 



A Hand-booh for Settlers. 139 

With regard to the declination and dip of the 
magnetic needles,, they are subject to very re- 
markable local variations in many parts of the 
vicinity of these inland seas, owing no doubt to 
the iron disseminated through the rocks, and to 
the massive beds of it which are found within the 
area of the basins; these variations, however, do 
not occur in the compass of a vessel on any of the 
lakes. 

It is well known that there is an inexhaustible 
supply of salt water at different depths below the 
surface of Ontario, especially near' Syracuse, St. 
Catherine, and Grafton. The lakes, which formerly 
were doubtless all salt, have become fresh (unlike 
the Caspian and others), by their having outlets in 
their several communications with each other, and 
with the main stream of the St. Lawrence, thus 
allowing the waters of the rivers by which they are 
fed to flow through them. In 1678, a vessel of six- 
teen tons was launched on Ontario by La Salle, and 
in 1679 another of sixty tons on Lake Erie. The 
first trading port was Oswego. 

None of the indigenous animals are identical 
with those of the same genus in the Old World, 
although among some there is a close resemblance. 
For example, the common deer (Gervus virginianus) 
of this land, although nearly allied to that of Great 
Britain, yet differs in some points from it. And 
Agassiz, the highest authority in icthyology, declares 



140 Canada in 1864 : 

that Canada does not possess a single fresh-water 
fish corresponding exactly with any in the mother 
country , though many are of the same type. Ono 
of our most singular fish is the Lepidosterous or 
bony-scaled fish, which is found in Lake Superior, 
and in the Ottawa and other rivers in the north. 
It is remarkable as being almost the only species 
now existing which, in the nature of its scales, and 
its heterocircal tail and other parts of its structure, 
shows a very strong family likeness to the fossil 
fishes of the other formations. 

The furs, and, still more, the fisheries, of the 
western lakes form a branch of commerce of con- 
siderable and growing value. White fish, trout, 
and sturgeon, attain a great size in Lakes Superior 
and Huron, and from Lake Erie alone the exporta- 
tion has been enormous. In 1782, the country 
around the lakes was almost a wilderness. In 1851, 
the population of Upper Canada was under a mil- 
lion ; by the census of 1861, the numbers were 
1,390,091. 

There are various routes of intercommuni- 
cation between the lakes and other parts of the 
continent. No river, except La Plata, in South 
America, possesses so wide an estuary, and is navi- 
gable for large vessels to such a distance from its 
mouth, as the St. Lawrence. Ships of 800 tons go 
up to Montreal, whence there is a continuous water 
communication for 2000 miles. But the best route 



A Sand-booh for Settlen 



141 



for export and import from and to the Lower Pro- 
vinces, saving only during the season when the 
navigation is closed, is by the Gulf of the St. 
Lawrence. 

From the following statistics it will be seen to 
what an extent live stock and farming produce have 
increased in the last few years, and the growing 
prosperity of the farming interest in Canada West 
will be sufficiently apparent : — 

In 1851 the total number of head of live stock 
was 2,488,653. By the last census the numbers 
were — 



Milch cows 


. 451,640 


Oxen and steers 


99,605 


Young cattle . 


. 464,083 


Horses, of all kinds 


. 377,681 


Sheep 


. 1,170,225 


Pigs 


. 776,001 


Total . 


. 3,339,235 



In 1851, the wheat crop was 12,692,852 bushels, 
the weight of wool was 2,398,764 lbs. ; but, without 
going through the whole of the farm produce for 
the year 1851, I will give that for the year 1860, 
merely stating that the items generally show as 
large an increase as the foregoing : — 



142 



Canada hi 1864 



Wheat, 


bushels 


Barley 


>> 


Eye 


>} 


Peas 


33 


Oats 


33 


Buckwheat 


33 


Indian Corn 


33 


Potatoes 


33 


Turnips 


33 


Mangel-wurzel „ 


Carrots 


33 


Beans 


33 


Clover 


33 


Hay 


tons 


Hops 


33 


Maple sugar 


lbs. 


Cider 


gallons 


Wool 


lbs. 


Butter 


33 


Cheese 


33 


Flax and hemp „ 


Tobacco 


33 



24,620,425 

2,821,962 

973,181 

9,601,396. 

21,220,874 

1,248,637 

2,256,290 

15,325,920 

18,206,959 

546,971 

1,905,598 

49,143 

61,818 

861,844 

247,052 

6,970,605 

1,567,831 

3,659,766 

26,828,264 

2,687,172 

1,225,934 

777,426 



The value of the wood of the white pine in 1852 
was £1,000,000, and now it is nearly double ; the 
next in order is the timber of the red pine, the oak, 
and the elm. The pearlashes, gathered from the 
ground in the new clearings in 1852, yielded a 



A Hand-book for Settlers. 143 

return of £232,004. Fur and skins exported fetched 
£25,547. 

As regards the productions of the seas and lakes, 
large quantities of cod, salmon, and herring, from 
the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and white fish and trout 
from the lakes, are annually dried and pickled for 
exportation. The worth of the exports in 1852 was 
£74,462. The lake fisheries are at Prince Edward, 
on Lake Ontario, and on Lake Huron. 

As has been remarked in the chapter on mine- 
rals, very little has been done towards developing 
the peculiar capabilities of Canada for the production 
of iron, and this is particularly the case with re- 
spect to malleable iron and steel of the finest quality. 

The manufacture of fire-engines has been brought 
to a great pitch of perfection — Mr. Perry, of Mon- 
treal, having gained the first prize in the London 
Exhibition. At Melbourne, axes, planes, and other 
edged tools, with scythes of excellent quality, -are 
manufactured. All kinds of spades, shovels, and 
nails are made in various places; also ploughs, 
harrows, cultivators, and threshing and separating- 
machines, with the latest improvements. Capital 
types and stereotypes for printing are cast in Mon- 
treal. The saw-mills in Ottawa and Chicoutimi are, 
I believe, the largest in the world ; and grist-mills 
are abundant. The making of surgical and of 
musical instruments is yet in its infancy, but both 
have been commenced at Montreal and at Toronto. 



144 Canada in 1864 : 

Tlie manufacture of cotton is carried on to some 
extent ; new works have lately been erected at 
Hastings, in the counties of Northumberland and 
Durham, and in other parts. Woollen fabrics, and 
woollen and cotton mixed, for Guernsey frocks, hose, 
etc., are to be had in plenty in Western Canada, 
and the quality improves yearly. The blankets from 
Dundas are highly spoken of, and those made by 
Mr. Greenwood, in his factory near Grafton, are 
also deserving of much commendation, and have the 
additional recommendation of costing only £1 8,9. 
the pair, and weighing eleven pounds. The manu- 
facture of leather is carried on to a considerable 
extent, and hemlock bark is commonly used in 
tanning. Many other manufactories of different 
sorts are at work on a large scale at Montreal and 
Toronto, such as those for writing, printing, and 
wrapping paper ; flint-glass ; plaster of Paris ware ; 
bricks and tiles ; soap and candles ; without includ- 
ing the making of maple-sugar to an enormous 
amount, sold at fourpence a pound. About forty 
vessels are annually built at Quebec, of some 800 
tons and upwards. 

Excellent grammar-schools have been estab- 
lished in most of the provincial towns ; there are 
colleges at Toronto, Kingston, Montreal, Cobourg, 
and several other places; in Brompton (Canada 
West) there may also be found a Female Eclectic 
Institute, and a Female Wesleyan College ; and in 



A Hand-booh for Settlers. 145 

every parish, or section, are schools for the poorer 
classes. A law has latelv been passed, granting 
to the Roman Catholics a free school of their own ; 
bnt it does not appear to have "been framed in a 
judicions manner, and has given rise to much dis- 
sension. 



10 



146 Canada in 1864 



CONCLUDING REMAKKS. 

The foregoing sketches do not profess to present 
more tlian a general outline, which, however, the 
author hopes may not be altogether useless or un- 
interesting to the emigrant who is about to become 
a settler in the backwoods. As to the part of Upper 
Canada that is most to be recommended, so much 
must depend on circumstances. For those who 
purpose going far west, or into the new townships, 
it would be better for a few families to unite ' and 
take up their Government lots together; and it 
would be very desirable that there should be some 
mechanics in this small society, for blacksmiths, 
carpenters, shoemakers, and millwrights are much 
needed in the woods. In some of the recent settle- 
ments, on the erection of a mill by any individual, 
the legislature has bestowed on him a free grant of 
land, with other advantages. I am inclined to 
think, on the whole, that the townships of Peter- 
borough and Victoria are the best adapted at the 
present moment for newly - arrived emigrants. 
Fresh mines are being constantly discovered in dif- 
ferent localities ; and as lumbering must go on to 
a considerable extent for many years to come, the 



A Hand-book for Settlers. 147 

settler will readily find a good market for his pro- 
duce. In the course of another few years, the 
country will be opened as far back as the Georgian 
Bay, and this will enhance the value of the lands. 
The summer is the most favourable time for the 
voyage out to Canada — about June especially ; 
before the end of that month the black flies make 
travelling through the backwoods all but impossible. 
August and September are very agreeable here; 
the roads are good, and the country is in full 
beauty. 

From the accounts that have been given of the 
Island of Anticosti, one may infer that it would not 
be an undesirable spot to be selected by a few hardy 
settlers, who are fond of sport, to form a colony for 
themselves. I have before said that the rivers 
swarm with salmon, speckled and salmon trout, etc., 
while the bear, the otter, and the marten abound, 
and seals frequent the coast in almost incredible 
numbers: Timber for building purposes is easily 
procured, owing to the immense drifts of logs, etc., 
on the shores. A schooner from Quebec visits the 
inmates of the lighthouse twice annually. I quote 
the words of Mr. Eichardson, who has surveyed 
Anticosti : " But such is the condition of the island 
at present, that not a yard of the soil has been 
turned up by a permanent settler ; and it is the case 
that abdut a million of acres of good land, at the 
very entrance from the ocean to the province, are 



148 



Canada in 1864 



left to lie waste, while great expenses are incurred 
to carry settlers to the most distant parts of the 
West. Taken in connection with the fisheries of 
the St. Lawrence, it appears to me that the estab- 
lishment of an agricultural population in the island 
would not only be a profit to the settlers, but a 
great advantage to the province at large. " 

Let us now suppose that a party of six wish to 
go in company to Anticosti, and endeavour thus to 
calculate their expenses for a year : — 



The passage to Quebec 

A boat (second hand) 

Nets, traps, etc. 

Flour 

Meat 

Tea . .. 

Sundries 

Furniture, etc. . 



£120 

30 

30 

12 

12 

10 

20 

25 

6) £259 

£43 3 4 



According to this calculation a man could enjoy a 
year's sport (shooting, fishing, and trapping) for 
less than £50 ; and, in all probability, the sale of the 
fur would cover his expenses, of course leaving the 
boat, nets, etc., still in hand. 

A civilian owning a small capital yielding about 
£100 per annum, or an officer on half-pay, could 



A Hand-boolc for Settlers. 149 

live well in Canada ; the latter might hire a little 
place, with a few acres, whereon to feed his horse 
and cow, drink excellent beer, and smoke first-rate 
tobacco, to say nothing of enjoying independence, 
and mixing in good society, while in England his 
scanty pension will barely make both ends meet, 
and his poverty keeps him in the background. A 
man in this country may procure capital board and 
lodging, with washing included, and the occa- 
sional use of a horse or team if required, at the 
rate often shillings a week. Money-lenders, or, in 
colonial phrase, bill-shavers, often amass large for- 
tunes, lending their money on safe securities at, 
perhaps, £50 per cent, per annum on small sums 
for a short period. Money can be securely invested 
at £10 per cent., and bank-stock pays £8 per cent, 
interest. 

The winters are sometimes tolerably mild ; the 
first I passed here I lived in a tent without a fire 
till the middle of January, and last Christmas we 
had not more than an inch of snow upon the ground, 
with a brilliant sun, and the thermometer at noon 
standing at 50° in the shade. In the fall (viz., the 
months of October and November), the woods are 
exceedingly lovely, the leaves displaying every con- 
ceivable variety of tint and colour, and nature is 
then beheld in one of her grandest aspects. We 
have little of the dismal foggy weather so famed, 
for inducing the desire of suicide in weak or de- 



150 Canada in 1864 : 

praved niinds, which at certain seasons visits our 
native isle. We can generally take plenty of exer- 
cise throughout the year, but I cannot say that our 
Canadian young ladies in the country exert them- 
selves much in this way, though in the towns they 
make a promenade of one or more of the streets. 
Their beauty is often remarkable, but it is seldom 
adorned by the rosy blush of their English sisters, 
probably owing in a great measure to the influence 
of hot- stoves, and a life spent too much in-doors. 
However, they are apt to find the temptations of the 
skating rinks too strong to be resisted, and these 
are indulged in by night as well as by day, with a 
degree of colonial freedom that might astonish some 
of our sedater damsels at home. 

My little work is now at an end. If I have suc- 
ceeded in awakening a larger amount of sympathy 
in the breast of any of my readers for this beautiful 
land, her present condition, and her future prospects ; 
and if I have, at the same time, been able to convey 
any useful information to the settler about to seek 
for himself and his family a new home in the wilder- 
ness of the Far West, I shall be well pleased. Long 
may Canada continue to prosper and go forward in 
the race of nations ! and should the period ever 
arrive (at present apparently far distant) when the 
child, having attained to full maturity, should desire 
to dissolve her union with the mother country, and 
assume her place in the world as an independent 



A Hand-booh for Settlers, 151 

kingdom, may the severance be peacefully accom- 
plished, withont destroying those feelings of affec- 
tion and goodwill towards England which are the 
glory of her colonies, and which have so powerfully 
contributed to their existing state of greatness and 
prosperity. 



APPENDIX. 



APPENDIX A. 

EXTEACTS FROM GOVERNMENT PAMPHLETS. 



COLONIZATION, CROWN LANDS. 



GEOGEAPHICAL POSITION. 

Canada extends from the Gulf of St. Lawrence on the east, 
to (according to some authorities) the Pocky Mountains on 
the west, embracing an area of about 350,000 square miles, 
or 240,000,000 of acres, independently of its north-western 
possessions, not yet open for settlement. The Eiver St. 
Lawrence, and Lakes Ontario, Erie, St. Clair, Huron, and 
Superior, with their connecting rivers, form a remarkable 
natural boundary between Canada and the States of the 
Union, and a means of communication of surprising extent, 
and unrivalled excellence. 



154 Appendix. 



CONSTITUTION AND GOVEBNMENT. 

An integral part of the British Empire, Canada enjoys 
perfect religious, social, and political freedom. The Governor 
is appointed by the Crown, and is its representative in the 
province. He nominates an Executive Council, who are his ad- 
visers. There are two legislative bodies, called the Legislative 
Council and the Legislative Assembly, the members of which 
are elected by the people. All public offices and seats in the 
Legislature are open to any candidate possessing the confi- 
dence of the people, holding a certain limited amount of 
property, and being at the time a British subject. Three 
years' residence entitles a foreigner to all the rights and 
privileges of a natural born citizen. Aliens can buy, hold, 
and sell land. 



MUNICIPAL INSTITUTIONS. 

The municipal system of Canada is admirably adapted to 
the exigencies of a young and vigorous country. In order to 
comprehend it, it is necessary to state that Upper Canada 
is divided into counties, forty-two in number ; the counties 
are divided into townships, the latter being about ten miles 
square. The inhabitants of a township elect annually five 
councillors ; the councillors elect out of this number a pre- 
siding officer, who is designated the Township Beeve ; the 
reeves and the deputy reeves of the different townships form 
the County Council ; this council elect their presiding 
officer, who is styled the Yfarden. In each county there is a 
judge, a sheriff, one or more coroners, a clerk of the peace, a 
clerk of the county court, a registrar, and justices of the 
peace, which officers are appointed by the Governor in 
Council. All township reeves, wardens, mayors, and alder- 
men, are, ex officio, justices of the peace. 



Appendix. 155 

CEOWIST LANDS. 

Several millions of acres of surveyed lands are always in 
market, and the prices fixed at which intending settlers can 
acquire them, upon application to the respective Crown land 
agents. The names of these agents, their residences, and 
how to get there, will be found below. The prices of Crown 
lands vary from seventy cents cash, to one dollar, and one 
shilling an acre, on time, according to locality. 

Crown lands in Upper Canada are sold for cash, at 
seventy cents an acre, and, on time, at one dollar an acre, 
one-fifth to be paid at the time of sale, and the remaining 
four-fifths in four equal annual instalments, with interest at 
six per cent, on the purchase money unpaid. On the north 
shore of Lake Huron, and at Fort William on Lake Superior, 
lands are sold on time at twenty cents an acre. All Crown 
lands in the newly-surveyed territory are subject to settle- 
ment duties, and no patent in any case (even though the 
land be paid for in fall at the time of purchase) shall issue 
for any such land to any person who shall not by himself, or 
the person or persons under whom he claims, have taken 
possession of such lands, within six months from the time 
of sale, and shall from that time continuously have been a 
bond Jide occupant of, and resident on the land for at least 
two years, and have cleared and rendered fit for cultivation 
and crop, and had under crop within four years at farthest 
from the time of sale of the land, a quantity thereof in the 
proportion of at least ten acres to every one hundred acres, 
and have erected thereon a habitable house, and of the 
dimensions at least of sixteen by twenty feet. Timber must 
not be cut without license, except for agricultural pur- 
poses. 

There is generally on Crown lands an unlimited supply 
of the best fuel. The conditions of sale allow the settler to 
cut and sell from his lot whatever timber he thinks proper, 



156 Appendix. 

by taking out a license, which can be had on application to 
the Crown land agent. The value of the timber thus cut is 
applied in payment of the purchase money due to the 
Crown. Even in burning the timber which he does not sell, 
the settler can convert the ashes into potash, which will meet 
a ready sale at from £7 to £9 currency per barrel. 

Purchasers of lands, after paying a first instalment, can 
raise from the land itself and from the timber on it, the 
means of paying the balance of the purchase money, and by 
their own exertions, in a short time be possessed of a valu- 
able property ; the pioneer settler thus becoming the inde- 
pendent farmer. 



COLONIZATION ROADS. 

Government has opened several great lines of road on 
which free grants of one hundred acres are given to actual 
settlers. The conditions of location are : — That the settler 
be eighteen years of age. That he take possession of the 
land allotted to him within six months. That he build a log 
house 16 by 20 feet. That he reside on the lot and clear and 
cultivate ten acres of land in the course of four years. Mem- 
bers of a family having land allotted to them may reside on 
a single lot, thereby exempting them from building and 
residence on each location. 

The roads in Upper Canada are : — 

1st. The Ottawa and Opeongo Road, which runs east 
and west, and will connect the Ottawa with Lake Huron. 
Resident Agent, T. P. French, Clontarf. Route, by 
Grand Trunk Railway and Ottawa River, or Railway 
to Ottawa City, thence by stage and steamer to Farrell's 
Landing. 

2nd. The Frontenac Road, running north of Kingston, 



Appendix. 15 7 

through the county of Frontenac. Resident Agent, James 
Spike, Deniston. Route, by Grand Trunk Railway to 
Kingston. 

3rd. The Addington Road, running north and south, 
through the county of Addington. Resident Agent, E. 
Perry, Tamworth. Route, by Grand Trunk Railway to 
jSTapanee. 

4th. The Hastings Road, running nearly parallel to the 
Addington Road, and connecting the County of Hastings 
with the Ottawa and Opeongo Road. Resident Agent, M. 
P. Hayes, Madoc. Route, by Grand Trunk Railway to 
Belleville. 

5th. The Burleigh Road, running through the townships 
of Burleigh and Anstruther. Resident Agent, Joseph 
Graham, Peterborough. Route, by Grand Trunk Railway 
to Cobourg and Peterborough. The Burleigh Road to join 
the Peterson Road will be finished in two years. 

6th. The Bobcaygeon Road, running from Bobcaygeom 
between the counties of Peterborough and Victoria, north, 
and intended to be continued to Lake Nipissing. Resident 
Agents : for southerly portion, R. Hughes, Bobcaygeon; for 
northerly portion, G. G. Boswell, Minclen. Route, by Grand 
Trunk Railway to Cobourg and Peterborough, and thence 
by steamer to Bobcaygeon. 

7th. The Yictoria Road, running north through the 
county of Yictoria to the Peterson Road. Resident Agent, 
G. M'. Roche, Lindsay. Route, by Grand Trunk Railway to 
Port Hope and Lindsay. 

8th. The Muskoka Road, running from Lake Couchiching 
to the Grand Falls of Muskoka. Resident Agent, R. J. 
Oliver, Orillia. Route, by Northern Railway from Toronto 
to Barrie, thence by steamer to Orillia. 

By means of these roads access is obtained to townships 
recently surveyed by Government and now open for settle- 
ment. They are chiefly of excellent quality, and well 



158 Appendix. 

adapted, in respect of soil and climate, to all the purposes of 
husbandry. 

The roads in Lower Canada arc : — 

1st, The Elgin Eoad, in the county of L'Islet, about 
thirty-five miles long, from St. Jean, Port Joly, to the pro- 
vincial line ; and that part of the Tache Eoad, from the 
county of Bellechasse to that of Kamouraska, inclusive, 
about 100 miles. Eesidcnt Agent, S. Drapean, St. Jean, 
Port Joly. 

2nd. The Matapedia Eoad, from Fleurian to Eiver Eesti- 
gouche, forty-six miles ; and that part of the Tache Eoad, 
from the county of Kamouraska to that of Eimouski, about 
100 miles. Eesident Agent, J. B. Lepage, Eimouski. 

3rd. The Temiscouata Eoad, from Riviere du Loup to 
Lake Temiscouata. Eesident Agent, L. N. Gauvreau, Isle 
Yerte. 



DIRECTIONS TO EMIGRANTS AND OTHEES 
WISHING TO PUECHASE CROWN LANDS. 

Emigrants and others desirous of purchasing Crown Lands 
should make application to the respective local Crown Land 
Agents, who are required by law to furnish all applicants 
with correct information as to what lands are open for sale. 

The Government Emigration Agents at Quebec, Mon- 
treal, Ottawa, Kingston, Toronto, and Hamilton, will afford 
information and advice to emigrants respecting the best 
means of reaching the localities in which they intend to 
settle. 



Appendix. 159 



DIRECTIONS TO PAETIES CORRESPONDING WITH 
THE DEPARTMENT OF CROWN LANDS. 

Applications to purchase wild lands, in newly surveyed 
or thinly settled townships, should be made to the local 
agent, and if the lot sought to be purchased is at his dis- 
posal, at a fixed price, he will sell under existing regulations. 
If the lot has not yet been advertised, and placed at the dis- 
posal of the agent, no sale of it can be made until that is 
done, unless the applicant is in actual occupation, with valu- 
able improvements : in that case he may, at his own expense, 
procure the services of the agent (if the lot be within the 
jurisdiction of one) to inspect it, or furnish him satisfactory 
evidence, by affidavits of two credible and disinterested 
parties, or the report of a sworn surveyor, to enable him to 
report to the department the following particulars, viz. : — 

The whole time the lot has been occupied ; by whom now 
occupied; the nature and extent of the improvements 
owned by applicant, and whether there are any adverse 
claims, on account of improvements made by any other 
party on the same piece or parcel of land. 

If the lot is public land, but not within the jurisdiction 
of any agent, the application should be made direct to the 
department, applicant being careful, in order to avoid delay 
and prevent unnecessary correspondence, to transmit at the 
same time the evidence by affidavit or surveyor's report, as 
above stated. 

The same rules should be observed by applicants to pur- 
chase Public Lands situated in the old settled townships, 
with these additions : that in cases where the applicant 
occupies improvements made by his predecessors on the lot, 
he should show by assignment or other evidence, how he 
obtained possession of them, and that he is now the bond 



160 Appendix. 

Jide owner of the same. The present full value of the land 
per acre, exclusive of improvements, should also be stated 
by the agent, the surveyor or deponents, as the case may 
be. All papers necessary to substantiate the applicant's 
claim or right to purchase, if the application is made direct 
to the department, should accompany the first application. 

All assignments, whether by squatters or purchasers, 
must be unconditional, to be recognized by the department. 

Applications for information relative to the dates of 
patents and the names of patentees should, invariably, be 
made to the provincial or deputy provincial registrar. 

Parties writing to the department should give their post 
office, the date and number of the last letter (if any) they 
received from the department on the subject. They should, 
if they can, state whether the lots they write about are 
Crown, Clergy, or School Lands. Each letter should be con- 
fined to one subject; the signature should be distinctly 
written, and the letter addressed to " The Honourable the 
Commissioner of Crown Lands." 

Every applicant of letters patent for lands, should state 
his Christian name at length, with his occupation and 
residence, as these must be stated in the letters patent. 



INSTBUCTIONS TO IMMIGBANTS WITH SOME 
CAPITAL. 

Immigrants with some capital, desirous of settling on 
land, and unaccustomed to life in the bush, would do well 
to purchase a lot ivith a house, outbuildings, and a few acres 
of clearance. Lots of this description are always to be found 
in the newly-settled districts, the title to which is still in 
the Crown. In such cases a small sum must be given for 



Appendix. 161 

the right and improvements of the original purchaser. The 
patent would then be issued on payment of the balance of 
the purchase money due to the Crown, and on completion 
of the required settlement duties. 

The Crown Land agents will aid immigrants inquiring 
for improved lots within their agencies, for which patents 
have not been issued. They will say where such lots are to 
be found, and they will assist, if requested, in drawing up 
the necessary assignment to the purchaser, for registration 
in the department of Crown Lands. 



11 



APPENDIX B. 



EMIGEATION TO CANADA. 

(From " The Albion " of May 30, 1864.) 

The subject of emigration has recently attracted much 
attention in Canada, and has led to several discussions in 
the provincial parliament. It would appear from the state- 
ments of the honourable members that Federal agents are 
busy there as in England, attempting to attract newly arrived 
emigrants from Canada to New York and other Federal 
cities, with a view to enlisting them in the Federal armies. 
This drain on Canada had seriously affected the labour mar- 
ket, and the legislature had under their consideration the 
best means of putting an end to this system. In the 
Legislative Council, on the 10th May, the Hon. Mr. Alex- 
ander moved for a select committee to consider and report 
upon the best means to be adopted to attract an increased 
number of immigrants and settlers. At present they had 
no agents in the United States or on the European Conti- 
nent, and although they had a department of agriculture 



Appendix. 163 

and emigration, little or nothing had yet been done to pro- 
mote an influx of settlers. In his opinion they could easily 
receive and absorb from 30,000 to 40,000 immigrants annu- 
ally, all of whom could find comfortable homes and hiring 
by their labour. Manufactures of various kinds were 
rapidly springing up; and he thought that if care was 
taken with the immigrants on their arrival, and the re- 
sources of the province set before them, they would prefer 
peaceful Canada to the United States. The Hon. Mr. 
Campbell said the province was much indebted to Mr. 
Alexander for the untiring zeal and energy he displayed on 
the subject. He begged to second this motion. The motion 
was carried nem. dis. In the Legislative Assembly, on the 
same day, Mr. M'G-ee, Minister of Agriculture, moved the 
second reading of the bill to amend the acts respecting 
emigrants and quarantine, and proposing to make, at 
Quebec, one legal landing-place, and that emigrants should 
be landed at particular hours, with the regulations designed 
to check the current of further emigration to the Northern 
States. In the course of his remarks he maintained the 
right of the various localities to representation by popula- 
tion. He also maintained that the report of the ex-commis- 
sioner of Crown Lands, that there were no more lands 
suitable for cultivation, for appropriation — a statement 
which must of necessity prove damaging to immigration — 
was very incorrect, that in a comparatively small district 
9400 situations were now open for immigrants immediately 
on their arrival. Several other gentlemen spoke in favour 
of the bill, and reference was again made to the diverting of 
the immigration stream to the Northern States, and the 
importance of such provisions as the bill designed to check 
it. The discussion was adjourned. 

Eeturn of the number of male and female servants, me- 
chanics, etc., required in Canada, and for which applications 



164 Appendix. 

have been made to the inland agents :— Farm labourers, 6,161 ; 
boys over thirteen years of age, 1,115; female servants, 2,892 ; 
carpenters and joiners, 165 ; masons, 131 ; bricklayers, 57 ; 
founders, 14 ; coopers, 33 ; smiths, 60 ; tinsmiths, 5 ; shoe- 
makers, 70 ; tailors, 29 ; miners, 218 ; tanners, 13 ; saddlers, 
16 ; wheelwrights, 1 ; carriage-painters, 2 ; weavers, 4 ; gar- 
deners, skilled, 9 ; grooms, 4, — Total, 10,999. Average rate of 
wages : — Per month, with board (gold and not currency) : — 
Farm labourers from $7 to §8 ; female servants, $2 to $5 ; 
boys, $2 50c. to §6 ; carpenters, $14 to $20 ; tailors, $10 to 
$14 ; shoemakers, §10 to $16 ; saddlers, $12 to $16 ; black- 
smiths, $14 to $20. Per day, without board (gold, and not 
currency) : — Farm labourers, from 70c. to $1 ; carpenters, 
§1 to $1 50c. ; tailors, $1 12c. to $1 50c. ; shoemakers, $1 
to $1 25c. ; blacksmiths, $1 12c. to $1 50c. ; masons, $1 25c. 
to $1 50c. ; coopers, $1 25c. to $1 50c. ; tinsmiths, $1 to 
$1 25c. ; founders, $1 25c. to $1 50c. ; bricklayers, $1 12c. 
to $1 50c. 



165 



YALUE OF ENGLISH COIN THROUGHOUT 
CANADA. 



Steeling. 








CUKKENCY 


£ s. d. % cts. 


1 . . . . 2 


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10 








• 25 


2 6 








60 


5 








1 21 


10 








2 43 


10 








4 86 


5 








24 33 


10 








48 66 


20 








97 33 


50 








243 33 


100 








486 66 



HASRILDj PEINTEE, LONDON" ► 



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